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Posted on 12/28/2009 3:27:22 AM PST by Man50D
Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) said last week he was “shocked” to hear a senior Department of Defense official agree with him that the administration’s plan to move detainees of Guantanamo Bay to Thomson, Ill., would pose an increased security risk.
At a press conference in the House of Representatives, Manzullo said the official “agreed with me there would be an increased security risk to northwest Illinois, but he had no way of estimating the extent of this threat.”
Manzullo told reporters he was “shocked” at the admission and later told CNSNews.com he was confused about how the administration could manage a risk it could not quantify.
“That’s when I said, ‘Well, if there’s no way that you can estimate -- measure -- the extent of the increased risk, then why are you making the move in the first place?’”
Manzullo, who represents the district containing the Thomson Correctional Center, said he got the information from Philip Carter, the former deputy assistant undersecretary for detainee affairs at the Department of Defense in a November briefing.
The briefing came after the Obama administration began considering moving a group of 210 suspected terrorists from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba to the Illinois facility, which the federal government would purchase. The move would be part of President Obama’s plan to close Guantanamo Bay in 2010.
Manzullo, who asked the administration to be briefed on the security implications of the move, told reporters, “I received an in-depth briefing from the top architect of the plan -- Phillip Carter from the Department of Defense. We confirmed Thomson would become the largest concentration of international terrorists in the United States.”
The congressman then said that Carter admitted his concerns about the security were warranted.
“Mr. Carter agreed with me there would be an increased security risk to northwest Illinois, but he had no way of estimating the extent of this threat. He said, however, he was confident that federal and local law enforcement officials could ‘manage the risk.’"
Manzullo said he did not understand how the administration could concede that there would be a threat but be unable to elaborate on how the threat would be handled. “I was shocked,” he told reporters, “because if there was no way to measure the threat, then how could it be ‘managed?’
Manzullo said Carter also allegedly agreed to send other Defense Department officials to further brief Manzullo, but the congressman said he had difficulty getting the administration to offer him any information.
“He (Carter) advised he would make available others at DoD for further briefings,” Manzullo said. “I sought more information from DoD, only to discover that Mr. Carter had immediately resigned a few days after he briefed me.”
Manzullo joined several other Republican members of the Illinois delegation at the press conference, each of whom voiced concerns over security and confusion about the administration’s logic in moving the prisoners to U.S. soil.
There are currently about 210 prisoners remaining in Guantanamo Bay, 100 of which the administration hopes to place in other countries. The remaining 100 would be transported to the Thomson, Illinois facility indefinitely.
That reported plan came after the Obama administration tried first to move the suspected terrorists to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and then to a prison in Michigan. On Jan. 28, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, then the governor of Kansas, wrote Secretary of Defense Gates to protest the transport.
“Closing the terrorist detention center on Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) raises some very complex issues, particularly when it comes to relocating the prisoners to other detention centers,” Sebelius wrote. “It is my understanding that Fort Leavenworth is being considered as one possible sight to relocate the prisoners. As Governor of Kansas, I wanted to communicate with you at the outset of this decision-making process and share with you that I do not support prisoners being moved to the Fort.”
By August, the administration was also eyeing a maximum-security prison in Standish, Mich., for the move. The public in Standish voiced outrage at an emergency town hall meeting on Aug. 20, which was attended by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
During his November trip to several countries in Asia, President Obama admitted that the administration might miss its self-imposed deadline of January 22, 2010 to close down the Cuba prison. It was only after that admission that the administration began planning to move the inmates to Obama’s home state of Illinois.
Manzullo told CNSNews.com he did not know why the Defense Department official had resigned, but that he was left with little substantive information about the move to Illinois. When asked if the Defense Department had elaborated on Carter’s comments, Manzullo said: “No. We waited, we asked for further briefings, and 11 days later they gave us (another employee) who worked for Carter, but I mean, I learned nothing new there.”
Carter, who resigned Friday, Nov. 20, did not issue a statement, but a spokesman for the Department of Defense told CNSNews.com that Carter resigned for family and personal reasons.
Manzullo said there were several ways to interpret the departure.
“I don’t know what that means. You know, one conclusion is that he said too much. The other conclusion is what he said was improper. The third conclusion is that his resignation had nothing to do with what he said.”
“Our take on it is the person who was the most candid with us is no longer available. That doesn’t mean anything,” Manzullo said.
Well, maybe some Democrats actually have a conscience and understand right from wrong...
and maybe monkeys will fly out my butt.
Heh...yeah, probably right... I do tend to be more optimistic to my detriment.
Three issues this election:
1. MengeleCare
2. Crap’n’Tax
3. Enabling Terrorism
If the GOP can’t win every single election in 2010 it means they botched campaigning on these 3 issues.
Well, the Tax Party has more influence and might win over your GOP candidates... the GOP is an obsolete entity...
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Our president need not - and evidently does not - care about the safety of citizens from these thugs - he’s got the Secret Service to cover him every moment of every day.
Who’s looking out for us?
Thompson Correctional Center is only 57 miles and 1.5 hours from Dubuque Iowa, 43 miles and 1.25 hours from Bettendorf & Davenport, Iowa (the Quad Cities area) and is closer to Ceder Rapids, Iowa (95 miles) than it is Chicago (150 miles).
So if I lived in these areas of Iowa, I just may be a tad ticked off by this move.
At even 170 miles from my location, this is simply too close. There are documented jihadis in the Twin Cities. Rochester, MN is full of Arab physicians and their families. The rural area surrounding the prison is not amenable to adequate surveillance. Why put a magnet in a place that is already realtively surrounded, especially when there have been reports that the jihadis are prepared to stage attacks and incidents even in relatively isolated rural areas, to show that they have a far reach?
The corrections industry is all about revenues, not to mention unions. Jobs are the carrot for the local populace. Grants are the incentive for the bureaucrats. The Feds are responsible for the costs, so if/when the Feds are insolvent, the usual ploy of cutting law enforcement and corrections will be applied.
The entire scenario is rife with negative possibility for the populace. Not that the people in charge of Iowa and Wisconsin (we already know about Illinois) blindly support the administration.
That's what I've said since this bonehead idea was first reported.
Its so close to the Mississippi River that an Amphib Attack would be perfect. There's even a nice little forest of trees on the river bank for added cover. And roads that lead from there to the prison perimeter.
Not that Al-Q or death loving Jihadists are 1/2 as good SEALS or SF but they could pull off an attack and breech this prison without much trouble. Its not like Prison Guards are carrying AR-10s & MP-5s around. Even what Military Guards are stationed there, they won't be heavily armed either.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Yep.
I expect some sort of attempt to attack the facility. Then, I wonder how long before sail boats, canoes and kayaks are limited on the River? Duck hunting and fishing: prohibited. Got ag land in the flood plain? Can’t till. Maybe they’ll even clearcut the woods. Are there levees nearby? Maybe a few gun emplacements will be constructed on them.
The PTB never seem to be able to look ahead. Instead, they simply pile on mistakes, endangering everyone, POing everyone and accomplishing the opposite of whatever they claim in words.
And we will pay for it all, every way imaginable.
Has anyone done a search for some sort of Islamville/Islamberg in the area? I would not be the least surprised to find one..........or more.
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