Gitmo detainees to go to Illinois...

[Dredly]

Looks like its "offical"... amazing how there are 50 states, hundreds of prisons... and the one from the presidents home state wins the bid...

WASHINGTON -- Taking an important step on the thorny path to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the White House plans to announce Tuesday that the government will acquire an underutilized state prison in rural Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo.

Administration officials as well as Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will make an official announcement at the White House.

Officials from both the White House and Durbin's office confirmed that President Barack Obama had directed the government to acquire Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., a sleepy town near the Mississippi River about 150 miles from Chicago. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting Tuesday's announcement.

A Durbin aide said the facility would house federal inmates and no more than 100 detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

The facility in Thomson had emerged as a clear front-runner after Illinois officials, led by Durbin, enthusiastically embraced the idea of turning a near-dormant prison over to federal officials.

The White House has been coy about its selection process, but on Friday a draft memo leaked to a conservative Web site that seemed to indicate officials were homing in on Thomson.

The Thomson Correctional Center was one of several potential sites evaluated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to potentially house detainees from the Navy-run prison at Guantanamo Bay. Officials with other prisons, including Marion, Ill., Hardin, Mont., and Florence, Colo., have said they would welcome the jobs that would be created by the new inmates.

Closing Guantanamo is a top priority for Obama, and he signed an executive order hours into his presidency directing that the process of closing the prison begin. Obama has said he wants terrorism suspects transferred to American soil so they can be tried for their suspected crimes.

The Thomson Correctional Center was built by Illinois in 2001 as a state prison with the potential to house maximum security inmates. Local officials hoped it would improve the local economy, providing jobs to a hard-hit community. State budget problems, however, have kept the 1,600-cell prison from ever fully opening. At present, it houses about 200 minimum-security inmates.

Obama has faced some resistance to the idea of housing terrorism suspects in the United States, but in Thomson many have welcomed the prospect as a potential economic engine. Thomson Village President Jerry Hebeler, was asleep when the word came that Thomson had been chosen.

"It's news to me, but then I'm always the last to know anything," Hebeler said Monday night of the news affecting his town of 450 residents. "It'll be good for the village and the surrounding area, especially with all the jobs that have been lost here."

But Hebeler said he wouldn't rejoice until "the ink is on the paper" because previous plans for increased use of the nearly empty prison have fallen through.

Some Illinois officials have not supported the idea. GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, who is seeking Obama's old Senate seat, said he believes moving Guantanamo detainees to Illinois will make the state a greater threat for terrorist attacks. Kirk has lobbied other officials to contact the White House in opposition to using the facility.

To be sure, Thomson will not solve all the administration's Guantanamo-related problems. There still will be dozens of detainees who are not relocated to Thomson, other legal issues and potential resistance from Congress.

Thomson is a symbolic step, however, a clear sign that the United States is working to find a new place to hold detainees from Guantanamo.

So first they need to change the laws which basically remove due process and allow the gov't to incarerate prisoners with no trial.

Then they need to figure out how to make this facility geneva convetion compliant

Then they need to move the detainees there

Then we need to pay for them for ever


sounds like a great deal for US tax payers!

[arjohnson]

They should feel at home in Illinois, home state of another muslim leader.

[kunsunoke]

Islamofascist terrorists on home soil. What could possibly go wrong?

OTOH, they're going to Illinois. And Illinois deserves them.

[mcmcallister]

illinois sure does love criminals...

[PocketProtector]

Stimulus for Oudini's bar association friends.

[andrewjs18]

better there than in PA. all I got to say on that matter.

[dc dalton]

better there than in PA. all I got to say on that matter.

Why?

I just can't see what the hell the problem is with shipping these people to a max security prison stateside, in Il. or elsewhere .... going to cost us a hell of a lot less than Gitmo and it will FINALLY shut up the ones screaming about the 'illegal prisoner' stuff (hopefully)

Secondly, isn't this the prison that was built promising hundreds of jobs for the small town and holds NO ONE currently? I saw something about it a few weeks ago on the tube. They talked to the people in the town (which has something stupid like 50% unemployment) and they were THRILLED to have them shipped there. We have overcrowded prisons all over the country and this one is sitting empty .... works for me.

Honest to god I see nothing wrong with this, putting American's back to work, utilizing something that cost tax payers a ton and is just sitting there doing nothing ... what the hell is the problem?

[ReconLdr]

Does this mean the waterboarding will stop?

[Dredly]

Why?

I just can't see what the hell the problem is with shipping these people to a max security prison stateside, in Il. or elsewhere .... going to cost us a hell of a lot less than Gitmo and it will FINALLY shut up the ones screaming about the 'illegal prisoner' stuff (hopefully)

Secondly, isn't this the prison that was built promising hundreds of jobs for the small town and holds NO ONE currently? I saw something about it a few weeks ago on the tube. They talked to the people in the town (which has something stupid like 50% unemployment) and they were THRILLED to have them shipped there. We have overcrowded prisons all over the country and this one is sitting empty .... works for me.

Honest to god I see nothing wrong with this, putting American's back to work, utilizing something that cost tax payers a ton and is just sitting there doing nothing ... what the hell is the problem?

There are several prisons around the country that are like this... built and never used, they just sit there empty while others are overflowing... its all about what kind of prison it is and where. This one is not ready to handle the prisoners coming to it... they are going to be upgrading it (several million dollars in upgrade money)

The issue with moving these pieces of shit to the US is that they would then fall under the US laws for prisoners, there is no enemy combatant amendmant that says we can house them for ever without due process and since they will be held by the fed and not the military then they are no longer prisoners of war...

[dc dalton]

The issue with moving these pieces of shit to the US is that they would then fall under the US laws for prisoners, there is no enemy combatant amendmant that says we can house them for ever without due process and since they will be held by the fed and not the military then they are no longer prisoners of war...

And this is a bad thing how?

We STILL don't know for sure who or what half these people really are! Granted some we know but there are all the others there, many of whom are questionable at best as to what, if any, hand they had in anything related to 'terrorism'

Wonder how some would feel if the shoe were on the other foot and some country was hold US civilians it 'thought' might be terrorists, without due process, access to lawyers and a legal system?

Oh and BTW, anyone remember the Geneva convention? If it were our people sitting there rotting you can be damn sure we would be screaming 'Geneva convention'!