It seems folks have forgotten why terrorists are being kept at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In 1950, ruling in in Johnson v. Eisentrager, the Supreme Court barred federal civilian courts from hearing habeas petitions filed by German citizen combatants convicted of war crimes and imprisoned overseas by the U.S. military.
Since Guantanamo Bay is not in the United States, but in Cuba, by housing presumed terrorists there, the US go was effectively keeping them out of the reach of US judicial system and some of its activist courts and lawyers.
Anyway, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close Gitmo, as it is his right to do, and now the question arises of where to house the ex-detainees. Fox
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday shrugged off Republican suggestions that the federal government reopen Alcatraz prison in her San Francisco district to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Republican Rep. Bill Young then suggested to White House counsel Greg Craig that the prisoners who could not be released back to their home countries or sent to a third country be put up in “the Rock,” the famous military installation and prison that closed down in 1963 and is now part of the National Park Service.
Asked whether that was a serious proposal, Pelosi said, “It is — no.”
“Perhaps he’s not visited Alcatraz,” Pelosi said of Young while displaying little sense of humor. “Alcatraz is a tourist attraction. It’s a prison that is now sort of like a — it’s a national park.”
That explanation didn’t stop House Minority Leader John Boehner from repeating the suggestion on Sunday, making that point that closing down Guantanamo by year’s end may not be the best plan considering the recidivism rate of terrorist detainees is about 12 percent.
“If liberals believe they ought to go, maybe we ought to open Alcatraz,” Boehner, R-Ohio, told NBC “Meet the Press.” Being reminded that Alcatraz is a national park, Boehner responded, “It’s very secure.”
The argument is just the latest iteration in an ongoing dispute over what to do with the remaining 245 enemy combatants who were to be tried in military commissions until a stay was ordered by the president last week in one of his first official acts.
Boehner said the promise to close Guantanamo by year’s end is impractical.
Vice President Biden, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” said the prison must be closed because the symbolism of Guantanamo around the world has resulted in the growth of terrorist organizations, not their reduction.
What bothers me the most about this whole Guantanamo debacle is that Obama and his surrogates are behaving as if they don’t realize that the people who are kept in Guantanamo are not exactly boy scouts but individuals who engaged in activity to bring a complete and total end to America and its way of life…
