For weeks, the Republicans have been united in one thing – fear-mongering about closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. The Obama administration had requested $80M in funding in the supplemental war funding to close the prison and relocate the prisoners to federal prisons. The Republicans have never had a shortage of talking points about terrorism, but this takes the cake:
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., circulated a stinging letter this week that he wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder in which he questioned what “legal authority” the administration has to admit dangerous detainees into the U.S.
And Senate GOP Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., stirred up Republican opposition with a new Web video dedicated to discrediting Obama’s proposal to close the prison. The video, set to the foreboding music of “Carmina Burana,” mixes clips of accused terrorists’ photographs with news broadcasts about the release of Guantanamo prisoners and road signs from the various states where lawmakers warn the terrorists will be sent.
It ends with the message: “Terrorists. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you. January 2010.”
OOGA BOOGA! Terrorists are coming to your neighborhood! This is transparent fear-mongering by the Republicans on an issue that isn’t that controversial. Not only is it stupid, it’s insulting. If there’s one thing the U.S. knows how to do, it is imprison people. The U.S. imprisons a greater percentage of its population than any other country in the world. We keep dangerous people in prison here – like Ramzi Yousef (the first WTC bomber mastermind), Tim McVeigh (OKC bomber) and Ted Kazinsky (Unabomber), not to mention the serial killers and mass murderers we have incarcerated.
The Republicans threatened to block the war funding supplemental if the money wasn’t removed. So, Democrats laughed at them, right? If you said no, you’re correct. The Democrats bravely stood up and said “Uncle.” Not only did they cower in fear, they gave in using Republican rhetoric. Get a load of Harry Reid in a press conference:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) declared in a press conference today, “We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States.” In several tense back and forths with reporters, Reid said he opposes imprisoning detainees on U.S. soil, saying flatly, “We don’t want them around the United States”:
REID: I’m saying that the United States Senate, Democrats and Republicans, do not want terrorists to be released in the United States. That’s very clear.
QUESTION: No one’s talking about releasing them. We’re talking about putting them in prison somewhere in the United States.
REID: Can’t put them in prison unless you release them.
QUESTION: Sir, are you going to clarify that a little bit? …
REID: I can’t make it any more clear than the statement I have given to you. We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.
Clearly, even the press thinks he’s nuts.