Lehigh Valley Congressman Charlie Dent vented a bit today over evasive answers provided by Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Jane Lute about the risks associated with relocating terrorists into the United States. Asked at a Homeland Security Committee hearing where terrorist detainees currently housed at Guantanamo Bay should be relocated, Deputy Secretary Lute refused to give specifics.“Now is not the time to play games with our national security,” Congressman Dent said after the hearing. “The Department refuses to answer whether unidentified terrorist sleeper cells are in the United States, but the Administration is still willing to import terrorists from our maximum-security detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to some local jail cell.”
In February, Rep. Dent and eight fellow Republican Members of the Committee on Homeland Security asked Chairman Bennie Thompson for a Committee-sponsored trip to Gitmo. Today, Dent renewed that request.
“The Department of Defense is willing to bring us to Guantanamo Bay, but there appears to be no interest on the part of the majority to visit Gitmo,” Congressman Dent said. Members of Congress require an authorization from their Committee Chairman to visit the terrorist detention facility.
13 comments:
Send them to Bethlehem Township, Charlie!
Just a bit of hyperbole fro Congressman Dent. A "local jail cell" is municipal jail cell....again, hyperbole.
And, what are "the risks associated with relocating terrorists into the United States"? Our prison system can take care of homegrown evil like McVeigh, Dahmer, and Kaczynski, etc. but we can't handle some foreign guys?? That is actually a little insulting to our legal system if you think about it...unless of course, you are afraid of the US Constitution like Habeas Corpus and actually prosecuting terrorists instead of locking people up for several years with no trials.
Dent is worried about what "sleeper cells are in the US". Valid fear. But when we catch them in Columbus, Ohio, or in Illinois, or maybe right here in the Lehigh Valley, we won't be able to just lock them up for several years without charging and prosecuting them. We will "then" have to follow the Constitution.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Franklin, 1759
Prosecute and execute. As tempting as it is, we can't just lock people up for what they "might do". If we engage on the "battlefied" take care of them there as one does of "enemy combatants." But once detained, the rules change.
I pretty much agree with you, but you put it quite eloquently.
Dent never made much of a fuss when Bush was in office. he is a good little Republican Robot.
What is the risk of relocating terrorists to into the United States?
Good question, few worry they will escape from jail but many are concerned Liberal judges prodded by left wing acticists such as the ACLU will release them pending "trial".
Scott Armstrong
" Anonymous said...
Dent never made much of a fuss when Bush was in office. he is a good little Republican Robot.
1:38 AM"
Perhaps that is because the Bush Administration allowed access to Gitmo.
Scott Armstrong
O'hare, you have two stories about your hero, Dent, today, but no stories about how Callahan out raised him this past quarter. Why?
Your hero must have told you not to write about, since it is bad press for him.
First, Josh Dronnyk wrote about it. Second, I always thought when candidates collect lots of money, that's supposed to be a bad thing. That's what people say when Dent does it. Third, this is not a source of objective journalism, but thanks for the compliment.
Gitmo is a well-run prison in a perfect location. There is no need to close it, except to please Keith Olberman's droolers. Clinton started the rendition program and Obama, to his credit, has stepped up its use - primarily at the joint US/UK facility at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
The issue isn't escape from US facilities. Nobody's ever done so from Levenworth. Housing Islamic terrorist prisoners on US soil will have the same effect as our boots on the ground in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the early 90s. It will be more a source of anger and revenge than Gimo or Abu Graib. I'm glad Dent rejects foreign policy tinkering from lefties whose only experience with global matters is playing RISK.
Hey, you forgot SRATEGO.
Not to get too Tom Clancy -- but is perhaps one of the dangers of keeping terrorists on American Soil the potential to encourage terrorist attacks against the facilities that house them?
I know, I know. Pretty far-fetched. Of course, we now live in a world where terrorists high-jacked jetplanes to destroy the World Trade Towers.
Sadly, we live in a world where no scheme to commit an evil act is "too far-fetched."
And that's my
Two Cents
We knew the "airplane attack" was coming but Bush didn't read the memo. He was to busy planning the Iraq war.
Clinton and all of us knew all about planes into buildings following Ramsi Youseff's trial for the early 90s WTC bombings on Bill's watch. He testified that Bin Laden was obsessed with planes into buildings. ABC's 20/20 did a story on his testimony, complete with simulations of a auto-pilot commandeered DC-to-Boston plane they showed crashing into the Empire State Building. Nobody expected suicide pilots except the FBI who weren't allowed to coordinate their flight training Arabics concerns with the CIA per Clinton's wall of separation. Read the 911 Report. It's an inconvenient truth for Clinton defenders.
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