Importing Terrorists
By Rep. Tom Feeney Posted in Congress | Congressional Contributors | Gitmo — Comments (13) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Any plan to welcome known terrorists to U.S. soil a few short years after 9/11 makes a mockery of the goal of national security. Terrorists are not common criminals, and they must be treated like the dangerous killers that they are. In 2000, Manhattan Metro Correctional Center inmate Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a high ranking al-Qaeda terrorist awaiting trial for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, attacked one of his prison guards and stabbed him in the eye with a sharpened comb. As a result of the stabbing, Louis Pepe, the prison guard, is now half-blind, half of his body is paralyzed, and he is unable to speak clearly. Considering that Guantanamo Bay holds the worst of the worst of America's "Most Wanted" terrorists, like the even more hardened and fanatical al-Qaeda members connected to the 9/11 attacks, it is madness to bring them into our country, into our back yard.
Read on . . .
Rolling out the welcome mat for terrorist thugs is also dangerous in that it dilutes the constitutional rights of American citizens. The United States Supreme Court has held that the rights of alien terrorists depend on their contacts with the U.S., and aliens captured abroad on the field of combat have never been given the same legal rights as American citizens. However, bringing them here to the U.S. gives them another reason to argue that they deserve the same constitutional rights as our citizens, an absurd result. Once we bring our enemies here, it will also increase their claims for political asylum, offering another trapdoor into our country for those who wish to do us harm. Liberal politicians bringing terrorists to American soil will invite liberal judges to endow them with previously undiscovered "constitutional rights."
Bringing Guantanamo detainees onto our soil is nothing more than a flawed public relations plan that has perilous implications for our communities. Bringing these radicals to the U.S. does not "enhance our image," as has been claimed by some Democrats; it threatens the safety of our people and undermines their confidence in the government's goal of protecting us from our enemies. Just this past week, transcripts were released from detainee Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's military tribunal at Guantanamo, and he proudly claims, "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z." Whether his account is reliable or not, this monster has no problem advocating the deliberate murder of thousands of Americans, and I will not be a party to any Democratic political plan to welcome him to America, much less hundreds more like him.
« Rep. Capuano's Newspeak for Censorship — Comments (5) | No, we can't engage the enemy yet - Rep. Pelosi hasn't approved it! — Comments (0) »
Importing Terrorists 13 Comments (0 topical, 13 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
of bringing these terrorists into the US. Have Romney or Giuliani taken a posiiton?
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2007/march/0319_mccain_gitmo.shtml
"I would immediately close Guantanamo Bay, move all the prisoners to Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) and truly expedite the judicial proceedings in their cases," he said. "I would reaffirm my commitment to address the issue of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. I know how important this is in Europe in particular."
John McCain - March 19, 2007
until he goes outside and measures the wind speed.
has no political bounds!
Formally known as Deagle... "Golf is a way of life..."
we should check Khalid Sheikh Muhammed's body for secret tattoos before he comes here... just in case he can use them for an escape plan. I don't understand why America is such a bad place to bring our POWs of the GWOT... isn't Gitmo supposed to be like a "Club Fed"?
The ongoing U.S. porous land borders invite possible terrorists into the U.S. everyday!
This discussion cannot be complete without looking at border security. The democrats, and many republicans, talk a good game about fighting terrorists, yet have left the borders wide open.
This is a great issue for the Republicans to beat the Democrats over the head with. The idea of importing our nation's dangerous enemies in order to give them "O.J." style justice will scare a lot of the moderates back to our camp.
Sadly, the Republicans will probably not use this as a weapon. They think if they play nice the Democrats and MSM will reciprocate.
The Republicans need to wake up and realize it's never going to happen, politics is a blood-sport.
"Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich. "
William F. Buckley, Jr.
I find this argument fairly disingenuous. Do you really think that the military can't safely contain a few hundred prisoners? Is there going to be an Osama Great Escape? That's just silly. I'd be just as comfortable living next to a military terrorist prison as I would any maximum security lockup (in all honesty I wouldn't want to live next to either, but you get my point).
The real issue here (which is only addressed in a small portion of the posting) is whether bringing them onto US soil is going to affect their treatment and legal status. That's a fair concern and it deserves to be the focus of discussion rather than "Osama is going to eat your children".
Nt to mention the harm they would do to the unprepared and undertrained civilian prison-guards. They have a hard enough time with run of the mill gangbangers and drug dealers.
But, as you said, how it Might affect their legal status, etc, is a more important angle to the issue.
There are those who look on Dresden and Tokyo and Hiroshima as some of the greatest evils ever perpetrated by man. I look on them and thank the perpetrators for saving millions.
Rep. Feeney, it's a good try for us but it will be hard to beat the Dems over this one. With both McCain and Graham, at the least, proposing this plan, We can't call it a Democrat Plan.
but now I wonder if they don't have them someplace considerably darker.
--
See the Academy