52 Comments - Rich Miller - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:11 am: People, I’ve had to delete two comments already and it’s barely 8 o’clock. Tone it down. I have to give a speech in a few minutes and if I come back and there are over the top comments, those commenters will be banned for life. Period. Final warning. - Anon - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:25 am: Kirk’s scare mongering is an example of how politics is preventing government from getting anything constructive done at every level. Whether its members of congress afraid to vote for, or even discuss rationally, healthcare reform, finding a way to put this vacant prison to work, or members of the general assembly afraid to raise taxes at a time of fiscal meltdown because its an election year. I’m beginning to think that every elected political office should be term limited. If the motiviation to get reelecgted is removed, maybe our elected officials will be more focused on getting things done. - PFK - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:44 am: > “Terrorists have no place on American soil,” > Roskam said. This statement does not reflect the usual Republican lust for off-shoring jobs. There is more to the story here. We’ve handled terrorists effectively in our criminal justice system in the past. The problem with the Gitmo detainees is that they’ve been illegally tortured, and if they’re given a fair trial in U.S. courts, the horrific details of what was done to them will be fixed in the public record. That’s what Republicans are *really* concerned about. - Louis G. Atsaves - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:45 am: I don’t like the idea of housing 100 of them (more or less - the Obama administration won’t say) in one place. These terrorists have been arrested and detained for recent activities. And as to fear mongering claims, it would have been fear mongering to claim that several highjacked airliners would have been deliberately run into buildings, killing thousands, a few years ago. Let’s be careful here. When our State is reduced to begging for jobs by opening prisons, something is terribly wrong. When they are all tried, deported, convicted, released after trial, then those “jobs” created will vanish and the facility will close. How about pushing to create some real long lasting jobs instead? Like a few factories in that area? - OneMan - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 8:46 am: The concern, acurate or not, would be that putting a bunch of these guys in a single location (from the same terror organization perhaps) might encorage some sort of ‘resuce’ operation. This sort of operation would have a better chance of success in Illinois than it would on a military base in Cuba. Is it a legitimate concern, perhaps. Should we dismiss the idea out of hand, no. Finally, is this now the best we can do for econonmic development? - PFK - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:04 am: > I don’t like the idea of housing 100 of them in > one place. These people are being housed in one place now…Gitmo. I think Obama is making the right move by moving them on soil. Granted, I believe they could be spread out in the U.S. so that Thompson doesn’t become the kind of icon that Gitmo has become, I think the key thing is that they prisoners should be on U.S. soil so that we can ensure that they will get a fair trial and fair treatment. I can see why Thompson is an attractive place to put them…it’s under utilized and therefore would cause minimal disruption to an existing inmate population. - PFK - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:05 am: …on U.S. soil, that is. - VanillaMan - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:05 am: The President made this a political issue. Now that the Republicans are questioning his political solution, the Republicans are playing politics? Kirk is right. And as far as I know, he is the only person with any personal experience fighting these people. The Justice Department doesn’t have a very good record here. So, how about some debate first? You know, reality? Instead of playing politics with this, pro-Obama/Anti-Gitmo folks should consider why it has taken the President so long to fulfill what he had been promising for over a year he would do immediately. There is a reason for the delays we are seeing. So, don’t just pretend that this administration has finally figured something out. Most likely, they are still trying to salvage the political promises they made on this issue, and using us as a tool to reach his political goals. This is a serious issue. We have precedents here, and the Administration isn’t following them very well. What the Administration is finally recognizing is the unprecedented situation we face. They don’t want these wars, and they don’t want these detainees - so they are trying to dump everything regarding this issue so that they can continue with their domestic agenda, which has a higher priority for them. It is right for all persons involved to debate this ad-hoc nonsense. It is sloppy work we are seeing here from the Obama adminstration. We deserve better protection than this! - shore - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:09 am: any day markkirk does not have to talk about social issues, cap n’trade is a good day for his campaign. This is a perfect issue for him and the conservative base to bond on while not aggravating moderates. Endorsements were an interesting bunch. I think the net of it is, things are still a mess and no frontrunners. - wordslinger - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:12 am: I think it’s a great idea. We have a nearly-empty, white elephant prison and the feds have a need. I don’t see any shame in it. Besides the positive economic benefits to the state and the community, you could view it as Illinois doing more of its patriotic duty for the country. I find the fear and defeatism expressed by the congressmen here sad. It’s not exactly the Spirit that Won the West. And it gives these guys a lot more credit than they deserve. Let’s not make them out to be 10 feet tall. One day eight years ago, a dozen fanatics with box-cutters took advantage of a free and open society and hijacked and crashed some planes, killing innocents of every race and religion. Nothing more, nothing less. We’re quite a bit more vigilant now. And we’ve bested immensely more powerful and dangerous foes than Al-Quada. - northsider - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:15 am: None of the “terrorists” you listed are POW’s that is what we are putting in Illinois. Is that what we want? Do we want to house the worst of the worst here? For what? A bandaid? We need to grow the private sector not more government jobs. Of course the people in the area want some kind of jobs but at what cost? - Moving to Oklahoma - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:25 am: I echo the sentiments expressed here about placing so many of the detainees in a single location. Before anything else, Thomson should be opened to reduce the over crowding that exists in Illinois prisons. Moreover, this debate has little to do with the fact that no one has ever escaped from a high security prison. It has everything to do with the image of a jetliner crashing into the Thomson prison in a sort of jailbreak attempt. The problem here is that closing Guantanimo was politcal pandering from Obama. Now as a result of that pandering Illinois has to debate this issue. All of that being said, I have no problem bringing them to Illinois. We need the jobs, and although some people dont like the idea of Illinois “begging” for jobs, I dont think that is the case here. Illinois has not been campaigning for the Gitmo detainees, if I read this right the feds are the ones who think Illinois is the place for the terrorists to be. Lastly, to PFK @ 8:44am. Take a breath. - Moving to Oklahoma - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:30 am: Just to clarify on my last post. I have no problem bringing the detainees to Illinois, but would rather see them spread across several Illinois correctional facilities. There is the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone here. Open Thomson, house some of the Gitmo guys there and alliviate overcrowding in other facilites at the same time via prisoner transfers. - PFK - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:43 am: Vanilla Man, there’s no use fretting over who made this a political issue. Anything our government does, or any decision it must make, is a political issue. The problem is, Kirk and Roskam are using this political issue to scare people. But people should not be afraid of accused murderers and criminals standing trial in U.S. Courts. I didn’t hear Kirk or Roskam protest Brian Dugan or the Browns Chicken murderers going to trial. Why must some face justice and not others? - Responsa - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:48 am: No matter how this Thomsen thing turns out it is certainly going to bring a host of new issues and additional electricity into both the governor and senate races in Illinois. What makes it most interesting is that there is not an obvious and unequivocally “correct” answer to be had, and it is not at all a clear cut Dem vs. Repub issue, either. I suspect candidates in both parties who have not already taken a stand are putting their ears to the ground and watching polls very closely to figure out how to play it. One way or the other lots of voters are going to have a visceral response to the idea of bringing jihadist prisoners to the Chicago area and so they may be less prone to influence by usual campaign spin and ads. Solutions offered at election time on reform, corruption and debt are old and vague. But Thomsen is new and may get a LOT of attention. - ChiTownguy - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:51 am: @ VM - No disrespect, but I think you are little off on your reasoning here. “This is a serious issue. We have precedents here, and the Administration isn’t following them very well.” What? Are you saying he should follow the precedents set by his predecessor, Bush? We all know he LOVED to follow precedent. Obama is handling this in a legal, humane and effective manner, not ignoring international law/precedent and redefining the word “torture.” “They don’t want these wars, and they don’t want these detainees - so they are trying to dump everything regarding this issue so that they can continue with their domestic agenda, which has a higher priority for them.” You are partly right here. A majority of this country does not want these wars. The detainee situation is such a mess because of the reasons above. Who does “want” it? No one. But they are not ignoring it. “Dump these guys”? The administration promised to close Gitmo - as most Americans believe it should be. It is taking longer than expected, but now that they are moving on a potential solution they are dumping? I am confused. Closing Gitmo means handling these prisoners legally in the United States. If we cannot serve justice on our own soil, where can we? I have every confidence our men and women serving our country here in the US and working in our prison systems can keep us safe and keep these terrorists where they should be. - Dead Head - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:56 am: I find it interesting that people are more afraid of these detainees, who have never been convicted of anything, then they are of convicted baby-rapers and killers. As long as they’re American baby-rapers and father killers they’re ok? Come on people this is ridiculus. - VanillaMan - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:03 am: “This is a serious issue. We have precedents here, and the Administration isn’t following them very well.” Allow me to quote Dr. Krauthammer - “The current special military tribunals were created by the 2006 Military Commissions Act, which was adopted with bipartisan Congressional support after the Supreme Court’s Hamdan decision obliged the executive and legislative branches to approve a detailed plan to prosecute the illegal ‘enemy combatants’ captured since 9/11.” “Contrary to liberal myth, military tribunals aren’t a break with 200-plus years of American jurisprudence. Eight Nazis who snuck into the U.S. in June 1942 were tried by a similar court and most were hanged within two months. Before the Obama Administration stopped all proceedings earlier this year pending yesterday’s decision, the tribunals at Gitmo had earned a reputation for fairness and independence.” What we have been witnessing has been an attempt by the current administration to bury the War on Terror because they campaigned against the Bush administration and won last year. It seems that anything Bush touched, this administration wants to slough off ASAP. While understandable on a political level, this isn’t realistic. Presidents always inherit the problems we face together, regardless of the previous administrations’ standings in the polls. When you run for the Office, you are telling folks you know how to defuse the problems we face. Obama isn’t doing that very well. Truman inherited the mess of WWII. He handled the situations admirably. He was disliked intensely by the majority of Americans for it. It took forty years for his legacy to gain respect after the US better understood the adult decisions Truman had to make. Politically, sometimes presidential decisions are “lose-lose”, but still must be made. Obama needs to learn this. Obama cannot slough off the problems he said he could handle last year by ignoring the legal precidents we have in place, and agreed upon by both political parties. He cannot de-brutalize terror by taking the Gitmo prisoners and sending them to the US. He is burying his head in the sand if he believes he can make these kinds of political decisions, yet be seen as a strong leader regarding our security. Once again, we are seeing an ad-hoc decision without consideration of any long term plans that will ruin the work that has been done. And worse, I just don’t think the current administration cares what happens after they are out of office, as long as they can get what they want before they are shown the door. - SangamoGOP - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:04 am: The debate that needs to occur is whether these people should be tried in civilian court or military tribunal. While that debate occurs, if the Obama Administration wants to purchase and upgrade an IL prison that will be a boon to an economically distressed region of IL, that will be a good thing. Thompson was sited and built there because that county had one of the worst unemployment rates in IL even during the Rah-Rah ’90s economy. And, for all of the people who are petrified that Al Quaeda is going to mount some sort of rescue mission, why are you not afraid of drug gangs attempting the same thing at any IDOC facility? Certainly, IL gangs have the resources, the weapons and the organization to, hypothetically, attempt to break out their brethren AND they don’t have to go as far to do such a dastardly deed. Please. These terrorists will be cooling their heels 23 hours a day in solitary at Gitmo, Thompson or any other Fed prison and they won’t escape and no one will attempt some Hollywood rescue. - Plutocrat03 - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:07 am: The last community I remember floating the same idea was Okemos, MI. There was some discussion which resulted in a thanks but no thanks from them despite the more dire economy there. Makes sense to consider their thought process and give the feds the same reply. Lets also look carefully at some of the numbers being floated. 3,200 jobs to (temporarily) house 100-200 prisoners? Seems like an awful lot of people. Clearly these new hires will not come from the local area. How long will these prisoners be here? A couple years, five years? These are temp jobs at best. When the political process finally grinds to its conclusion will the next headlines we hear from Thomson be “Save our jobs, save our prison?” Sounds like some seriously shallow short term thinking which will spread some money around and leave the community high and dry when the political expediency has run its course. Prisons as an economic development tool have never worked in the past. It is not a long term solution here either. To those who believe that there is no danger from being a focus of these terrorists, remember those in Madrid who were riding their commuter trains and those in London who were riding on their busses. Don’t be so arrogant to believe that it cannot happen here. - D.P. Gumby - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:08 am: It’s a great idea–better than having an empty prison. Hard to imagine that those who specialize in suicide bombers are going to work hard to free prisoners–especially since few if any of those being held are significant “leaders” anymore if they ever were. Besides, they all deserve Illinois winter weather! - Will County Woman - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:15 am: what is really so wrong with keeping the detainees at gitmo? i understand that the people of thomson want and need jobs. Re: (seems like) desperation… consider the source. also, i find it interesting how quinn doesn’t consider this a “race to the bottom” the way he does Wal Mart jobs. he, and others, are proposing to to put illinois on the map/radar of terrorist overseas, like it has never been before, for jobs. i want to see thomson and any other area struggling in illinois become economically secure, but not in the way that quinn and others do. i don’t understand his gushing rhetoric on the matter either. public saftey should never be at the expense of bringing jobs to illinois. doing the latter is not worth risking the former. the concern isn’t about a detainee escaping, the concern is that muslim extremists will view and use the thomson prison as a rallying cry to attract and insight sympathizers. the sympathizers will then follow through on the jihadist rhetoric and seek physical targets to attack (e.g., Sears Tower) to enact revenge for what they perceive of as oppression/mistreatment of, and injustice to, their people. kinda like they did when they masterminded the 1993 terrorist attacks in nyc, and of course the 9/11 attacks. remember the 9/11 attacks? remember where you were? what you were thinking and how you were feeling? you no doubt felt vulnerable, insecure and afraid. remember now? mark kirk isn’t “fear mongering.” he is widely regarded as one of the standouts in congress on national security (defense)/int’l affairs/. when he speaks on such subjects people do, and should listen, because he has considerable credibility on such subjects. how much longer does the u.s. intend to detain the detainees? when they are ultimately tried, if they are determinded to be innocent or something else that frees them, where will they go? do we really want people that we, for all intents and purposes, considered hostile enemy combatants on the u.s. mainland feeling disgruntled, lost and bitter? - Logical Thinker - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:16 am: Can we talk about the fact that there is a nuclear reactor 22 miles from the prison? Also, it sits on the Mississippi River; a major transportation hub for the midwest. In Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda drove a gas tanker through the walls of a prison freeing 1000 prisoners. Will they do that here? Probably not. Will they try? I’m not sure, but why even take the risk? IT’S NOT WORTH IT!!!!! - VanillaMan - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:19 am: The debate that needs to occur is whether these people should be tried in civilian court or military tribunal. This already happened. Back in 2006. When Obama spoke as a US Senator regarding this issue, he was on live C-SPAN supporting the military tribunals in Gitmo. Obama supported publically what he is now being critical about publically. What changed? Politics. Obama promised that he would close Gitmo. That helped get elected, and helped him win the Nobel Peace Prize, but it was a bad decision that he continues to put off for very real reasons. The actions his Administration are now taking are bad ones, and when he was our US Senator, Barack Obama knew they were bad decisions. But ever since his inauguration, we have seen ad-hoc decisions from this administration, instead of leadership with a focus on the long term. - wordslinger - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:27 am: –To those who believe that there is no danger from being a focus of these terrorists, remember those in Madrid who were riding their commuter trains and those in London who were riding on their busses. Don’t be so arrogant to believe that it cannot happen here.– Last I checked, Al Quada has been quite plain in describing the people of the United States as targets. I think the risk regarding Thomson is minimal, but if there is a risk, so what? It’s a small price to pay for your freedom. Up to now, the great majority of us have not risked or given up anything to confront these dangers. We gladly took federal tax cuts and stimulus bonuses — paid for in borrowed or funny money — while volunteers waged two wars on our behalf. Time to buck up. - Will County Woman - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:56 am: wordslinger the bush and obama administrations have been fairly honest with the american people. the bush andim more thsan the obama only because obama hasn’t been in office that long. when talking about terrorist attacks on the u.s. it’s not really a question of if, it’s a question of when. honestly, we are no more secure today than we were on 9/10/2001. people still manage to sneak into this country everday. we still have security vulnerabilities thast can be expolited, by the right type of people. and who are we dealing with? with respect to terrorists, we are dealing with people, who if at first they don’t succeed, will surely try again. the first attack at the world trade center occured in 1993 causing minimal damage and few fatalities. Nearly 10 years later a far deadly and more successful attack occured, killing thousands and destroying both towers. terrorists have shown us that they are very patient and resourceful. they know more than we do, and by the time we find out, it is often too late. has the u.s. thwarted terroists attacks since 9/11? yes, that’s what the bush administration told us. but, the bush administration also said that another terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11 or worse is a possibility in the future. - Judgment Day Is On The Way - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:08 am: Do I think that using the prison to hold AQ related prisoners would pose a direct threat to the folks living around the prison at Thomson? Probably not. However, from a political standpoint, this whole thing is really little different than a US Senator attacking the location, of say, the placement of a central nuclear waste depository in his or her state. Not exactly desirable in either case, but if the argument works on one side (against nuclear waste), probably also works on the other side (against location of AQ prisoners). Politically, a smart move by Kirk. - Fred former Anon - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:14 am: what it simply comes down to on the Gitmo prisoners is that we don’t trust the Obama administration. He has had a jones for embarassing the Bush administration and he has had a jones for appeasing those in the middle east for so long that we don’t trust the Gitmo group will be treated like the other prisoners. Period. these guys get more PC care than anyone else. We know that in his heart Obama would really like to make a name for himself outside the country, than care for his own citizens. that is why people distrust him. we are just not sure he has our best interests in mind. - Cheryl44 - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:19 am: The majority of these people aren’t even real terrorists. They were picked up because someone either didn’t like them and made up stuff, or needed the bribe money and made up stuff. - Plutocrat03 - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:25 am: “I think the risk regarding Thomson is minimal, but if there is a risk, so what? It’s a small price to pay for your freedom.” What is the benefit? Some temp jobs? I don’t get it. Closing Gitmo is not a bad idea, but why not keep the prisoners there and accelerate the process in whatever court you choose to adjudicate the accused and close the prison when it is empty? This relocation effort smacks of a game of musical chairs. Public sentiment gas been against bringing those prisoners into the US in most locales. It is an odd way to curry votes for an upcoming election. - shore - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:29 am: the democrats couldn’t create jobs in the state or pass balanced budgets so they have to resort to terrorist housing as an economic stimulus. this is the kind of political mistake you make when you think that your approval ratings can withstand hits. The administration should have set up a bidding process, told all 50 states we have these bad guys, you take em we’ll throw you a bone to go with it and been done with it. - ChiTownguy - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:29 am: @ VM - I like that you took the time to offer a well thought out rebuttal, even if you do quote Dr. Krauthammer. I would like to ask one question. Are the “detainees” prisoners of war? You and the good Doctor’s comparison to the Nazis tribunals would seem to indicate that you believe they are. If so, isn’t that a direct contradiction of the Bush argument that was made for years that these people were NOT POWs due the rights accorded to them, but were a new term: enemy combatants. If they were in same category as escaped Nazi’s, why did we house them in Guantanamo, throw out the Geneva conventions and employ the use of torture? The arguments for Gitmo are constantly changing and contradictory. If anything was done ad hoc without a real understanding of future implications, in my opinion it was opening this legal limbo in the first place. Guantanamo and the practices we employed undermined our credibility throughout the world and went against our core values as a country, while proving to the world that we could be as hypocritical, cruel and inhumane as our enemies claim. This is why most people in the country want it closed. We will agree to disagree on what should be done next, but Obama is not dumping or avoiding anything. - ChiTownguy - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:35 am: @ shore - “the democrats couldn’t create jobs in the state or pass balanced budgets so they have to resort to terrorist housing as an economic stimulus.” Yep - you caught us. That’s the game plan exactly. We came up with it at the last Democratic party meeting on Thursday night. I brought cupcakes - you would have liked them. After we voted to make socialism the government style of choice, this was next on the agenda. @ wordpress - well said. - True Observer - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:36 am: “Public sentiment gas been against bringing those prisoners into the US in most locales. It is an odd way to curry votes for an upcoming election.” The supporters are candidates who are trying to get Obama’s supporters to vote for them in the primary. Otherwise, no sane person would support this. - Capitol View - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:39 am: my concern is screening guards and other employees at the prison where these terrorist detainees are to be kept. Some gangs have their members appply to be IDOC employees as a means of keeping in contact with imprisoned gang members. And how close are Black Muslims with the Muslim world generally? Not that close, I imagine, but I may be wrong. Employee screening — and re-screening, as we failed to do at Ft. Hood, is a potential issue here. I would hate to discriminate against Muslim employees or potential employees of IDOC who choose to work at the Thomson Center, but there may be a valid basis for screening out persons of certain backgrounds. Breaching the walls of this prison is not a good escape strategy, because the prisoners will all be individually housed in cells. The biggest risk is in-house… - Cheryl44 - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 11:40 am: Even Grover Norquist thinks it’s a good idea: http://tinyurl.com/ykqsrzk - Fred former Anon - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 12:22 pm: @shore Very, very well said!! - JonShibleyFan - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 1:46 pm: “it would have been fear mongering to claim that several highjacked airliners would have been deliberately run into buildings, killing thousands, a few years ago.” Actually, it would have been the intelligence reports from the NSC and the FAA intel unit. - Ghost - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 1:57 pm: So far I think the debate has missed a critical point. Illinois has a number of crumbling prisons, Stateville, Pontiac, Dwight, just to name a few. Why in our right minds would we sell off a state of the art new facility in favor of keeping old, outdated prisons that need closed. - Springfield resident - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 2:16 pm: I’ve always thought we look like a bunch of wimps by keeping suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay. We are the most powerful nation in the world with a justice system second to none. Both the Bush and Clinton administrations used the federal justice system to bring foreign terrorist suspects to justice. So have other countries. We’ve held hundreds of terrorists in federal detention on American soil. It is my understanding that 33 international terrorists, including those with ties to al-Qaeda, reside in a single federal prison in Florence, Co. This prison has not become a magnet for terrorism. There have been no attempted escapes. In fact, there hasn’t been much public notice. It’s time to get down to business and finish the job. If we can’t prosecute these suspects through our own justice system on American soil, then the terrorists have won. - JonShibleyFan - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 2:36 pm: The people bed wetting over this whole thing need to stop watching so many movies. Crashing a jetliner into the prison to set them free? Really? Either we believe in our judicial system or we don’t. Either we think our prisons can adequately house prisoners or we don’t. These are men, not the Watchmen. Get. A. Grip. - ChiTownGuy - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 3:12 pm: @ JonShibleyFan and @ Springfield resident Well said. - Dead Head - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 3:19 pm: @ ChiTownguy You deserve a Well Said as well. Your response to VM was perfect. - Skirmisher - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 3:20 pm: We have been housing prisoners of war (And common criminals, if that is what you want to call these guys) on American soil since 1775. So where’s the problem? The Republicans are outdoing themselves in stupidity on this one. No one has suggested that any of these people are going to be out on work-release. - wordslinger - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 3:28 pm: To WCW, Pluto, and others. It’s not about currying votes or looking for an economic benefit. It’s about doing your bit in wartime. Maybe something larger than your own self-interest. To Shore, I can’t imagine why the Kirk campaign hasn’t tried to shut you down here. The more you talk him up, in your own peculiar way, the more I want to see him beat. You exceeded yourself today. And to VMan, someone is obviously impersonating you. Over the weeks, you’ve gone on and on about self-sufficiency. A couple of weeks ago, you had long-winded rants about “people,” without government, building roads, “hanging” bad guys and providing social services. Yet today, some impostor is scared about having a supermax prison located in his state. Couldn’t be you, I’m sure. - Judgment Day Is On The Way - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 4:01 pm: Originally posted by Skirmisher: “We have been housing prisoners of war (And common criminals, if that is what you want to call these guys) on American soil since 1775. So where’s the problem?” You might want to review your history. Last time we had foreign POW’s on US soil was in WWII, and there were a fair number of German POW escapes from these camps. With the AQ types, these are the worst of a pretty bad bunch, and we’re not talking about “innocents” who just happened to get swept up by accident. Most of those types have already been let go or sent back home - and at least of a dozen of those ended up back in combat against us. The ones remaining - well, they’re hard core. Again, I think it’s unlikely to be a huge problem incarcerating them in IL at Thomson, but even if only one ever gets loose, you’ve got a really serious political problem to deal with. - wordslinger - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 4:21 pm: These guys aren’t POWs, they’re not spies. They have no state. They’re the fringe of the fringe, with fever-dream goals that are best childish (”walking the streets of Cordova, restoration of the caliphate), if not incoherent. Assuming they’re as bad as anyone says they are (some are, some aren’t), they’re no tougher than low-life gangsters, one-percenters, or “dead-enders” as Rummy said. I’m flabbergasted at those who want to build up these Gitmo guys like they’re comic book supermen. Do you have no faith in Americans or our way of life? In the federal prisons, you’ve got Aryan Brotherhood, Crips, Bloods, M-13, BGD, Vice Lords, Latin Kings, Mafia and other American-born sociopaths who’ve inflicted more misery and bloodshed in this country than any Al Quada fanatic could imagine. To those who are legitimately scared about these people, take a breath, do some reading and have some courage. To those engaging in fear-mongering for partisan purposes…. decorum prevents me from saying, but I’ll never forget. - 47th Ward - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 4:40 pm: Amen Wordslinger, I’ve had a tough time today not responding to all of the bs out there. You’ve said it all for me, and said it much better than I could. Thanks. - Skirmisher - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 5:09 pm: Hey, Judgement, housing these guys on foreign soil has been something of a political problem also! I personally don’t think they are prisoners of war because “War” is a political state of affairs between two opposing governments. These guys do not represent, nor are they represented by, any government. They are therefore criminals (Pirates, perhaps, in the closest traditional legal sense?). Even at that, we have a legal system to deal with such, and I think our prisons can handle them. - shwa - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 5:28 pm: These are not temp jobs, its a potential federal prison, in a growing population country, which is annually making new activities felonized or newly illlegal. Not to mention the feds can run deficit budgets forever, it will be around a while. We will always need to build new prisons, at least until the day the war on some drugs ends. Carroll County has been begging for this thing for 10 years now, running bus loads of locals to lobby, etc. Might as well open the thing. - Really? - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 9:03 pm: If this happens, when? Not for a while? @Cheryl44-you comment on what the Gitmo detainees did or did not do. what is your source of information that makes you think they were railroaded or is this just your opinion? - April - Monday, Nov 16, 09 @ 10:34 pm: Personally knowing the pathetic conditions within the walls of Stateville, Pontiac, and Menard, it makes me sick to think these terrorists will inhabit our brand new, clean, state of the art prison in Thomson. A nice prison with hot and cold water, central heat and air conditioning, new mattresses, and decent showers awaits those who want to kill all Americans. Just makes me sick. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.