Moving Guantanamo Detainees: Shaun Hautly

Now, I am not a politician. I could NEVER be one. Not based on ethics or principles, but because I'm not smart enough. Politicians get a lot of gripe for being corrupt or having hidden agendas. Now, while some of that may be true, being a politician is tough for another reason. They have to know everything. If they don't, they get yelled at and treated awful. They have to have a well thought-out opinion and plan of action for EVERYTHING: Health-care, foreign policy, military, the war in Iraq, education, taxes, and so much more. I don't even understand the health-care bill and I've read several summaries. So I have a lot of respect and don't always get upset about decisions that government makes because I'm sure there's reasoning and implications that are beyond my scope of knowledge.

So when I am told that terror suspects are being moved from Guantanamo to Thompson, IL, my pulse doesn't quicken it's pace. I'm okay with it for two reasons. The first is simple: We've got pretty good prisons. Towns with prisons are often quite safe. We have maximum security, solitary confinement, and heaps of new technology which does a pretty good job of keeping our prisoners in prison. Heck, they're still in Guantanamo, right? 

Now, the other reason I'm okay with it is because Cuba doesn't keep any prisoners in Wyoming, do they? Does Russia keep convicts near the Great Lakes? No. Our prisoners should be kept on our soil. If we need a military base in a country while we teach them democracy, that's one thing, but to move prisoners to that base to keep them away from America? Doesn't seem fair. Sure, Cuban prisoners can be kept there, but transferring people to remote foreign bases doesn't seem like a move we HAVE to make. We've got the space, we've got the security. We can keep a couple people locked up in northern Illinois. I can take a few at the community center, too, if we're that hard up on space.

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