GITMO, The Chicago way

As Obama plans to bring his fellow travelers up from GITMO to ….Illinois, let's review:

· Since 2002, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has held some of the world’s
most dangerous terrorists, many who helped plan the terrorist attacks on
September 11, 2001.

· Despite clear opposition from the American people,
the Obama Administration plans to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay to a
prison in Thomson, Illinois, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to New York City for
trial before a federal judge.

Story continues below advertisement

· House Republicans will push for
congressional hearings regarding the president’s recent decisions. Relying upon
press reports and the New York Times is not sufficient congressional
oversight.

· If terrorists are brought to U.S. soil, they will seek to
manipulate the rights provided by the very Constitution that they sought to
destroy.

· Bringing dangerous terrorists to U.S. soil will not make our
country safer. House Republicans will push for hearings on this
decision.

· The president’s actions are taking us back to a pre-9/11
mentality when we treated acts of terrorism as a law enforcement issue, and as a
result, failed to prevent an attack.

· The American people deserve to
have their voices heard in this important debate, not shut out by a president
who promised openness and transparency.

· House Republicans have a plan,
the “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act,” that guarantees dangerous terrorists
held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility are kept off American soil and out
of our courts.

UPDATE: Yesterday Atlas reader Courage-to-see heard an interview on Chicago radio with Representative Don
Manzullo (R) for the Thomson district. Rep. Manzullo feels his concerns and those of his constituents are
being ignored by the administration. During the interview he adamantly stated he
was against the relocation of Gitmo terrorists to his district. He also stated
that his concerns were not being addressed by either the administration or the
Senators of the state.

Congressman
Don Manzullo (R-IL) today issued the following statement reacting to
President Obama’s decision to move up to 210 al Qaeda and Taliban
terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to the Thomson Correctional Center in
northwest Illinois.

 

STATEMENT

 

"I've always
supported opening the Thomson Correctional Center as a full-fledged
state or federal prison because it would provide needed jobs for
residents of the region; however, I continue to have serious
reservations about moving Guantanamo Bay terrorists to Thomson.

 

“When I first
learned of the proposed transfer of the terrorists, I set out to
discover the security impact of moving Guantanamo Bay to the United
States – not closing its operations, but moving it to a new location.
My primary objective has always been to protect the people I represent.
I never believed these terrorists could escape from Thomson, but my
concern – shared by Democratic Senator Jim Webb of Virginia.,
Independent Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, and former Democratic
Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, who fought President Obama and
succeeded in keeping Guantanamo from moving to Fort Leavenworth – is
that the hatred the terrorists have toward Guantanamo would transfer to
Thomson, Illinois, thus creating a magnet for terrorist activity.

 

“I received an
in-depth briefing from the top architect of the plan – Phillip Carter
from the Department of Defense (DoD) – who confirmed Thomson would
become the largest concentration of incarcerated terrorists in the
United States. Mr. Carter agreed with me there would be an
increased security risk to northwest Illinois, but he had no way of
estimating the extent of this threat. He said, however, he was
confident that federal and local law enforcement officials could
‘manage the risk.’ I was shocked, because if there was no way to
measure the threat, then how could it be ‘managed.’  He advised he
would make available others at DoD for further briefings. I sought more
information from DoD, only to discover that Mr. Carter had immediately
resigned a few days after he briefed me.  DoD refused further briefings
for 11 days, and I learned little new at a second briefing.

 

“The White
House said in a statement today: ‘Closing the detention center at
Guantanamo is essential to protecting our national security and helping
our troops by removing a deadly recruiting tool from the hands of al
Qaeda.’ It’s that hatred that I’m concerned will transfer to Thomson.
The American people have a right to know the impact of moving
Guantanamo’s operations to U.S. soil.  Unfortunately, that information
will never be known because on Thursday, December 11, language was
inserted into a 1,300 page ‘omnibus’ spending bill to keep any
information on the issue ‘classified,’ available only to Members of
Congress, who cannot share its contents.  There is enough unclassified
information to release to the public without compromising sources or
security, such as the stunning article that appeared in the ­Washington Post on November 29^th
which investigated the story of Yemeni Arif Rahim, whose brother,
Uthman, has been detained at Guantanamo Bay for 8 years for attacking
the USS Cole. Consider this passage in the story:

 

“Arif said
he was confident that Obama would close Guantanamo next year. If he
doesn’t, or if Utham and other detainees are sent to a prison in the
US, many families would consider it an ever greater betrayal. ‘The
families, their friends, their tribesmen will have more hatred for the
United States,’ Arif said. ‘And perhaps they will consider taking the
same path as the extremists.’  

 

“I also
inquired of several other agencies, trying to asses the impact these
terrorists would have on American courts, but I had to turn to other
sources. I discovered, not surprisingly, that the detainees will
obtain new constitutional rights once they set foot on American soil,
especially the ones to be housed at Thomson because they would be
incarcerated permanently with no trial at all. In fact, the terrorists
were originally sent to Guantanamo because the US needed not only a
secure an impenetrable facility, but one off shore that limited
constitutional rights because of dealing with the ‘military
combatants.’  One only needs to consider the trial about to take place
in federal court in New York City of Khalid Sheik Mohamamed to observe
he is receiving more rights than a military tribunal in Guantanamo. I
believe the people I represent need to know the impact on the federal
courthouse in Rockford, whether trials would be held there as lawyers
work to assure them they are entitled to a trial.  Even the Obama
Administration says holding these terrorists without trial ‘is a gray
area.’

 

“Because the
decision to move Gitmo to Thomson has already been made, I’ll press
every level of the federal government to enhance the security of the
people of this area in order to protect their families, critical
workplaces, infrastructure, and schools.  And, in addition to
continuing to work with Senator Durbin, I’ll bring to the attention of
the President, the Governor, and Senator Burris the fact that northwest
Illinois needs continued help on economic development, such as
prioritizing the widening of U.S. Route 30 in Whiteside County and the
last link of our interstate highway system, U.S. Route 20 from Freeport
to Galena.”

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

• $25.00 here
• $50.00 here
• $75.00 here
• $100.00 here
• $250.00 here