Posted on 01/04/2002 6:43:23 PM PST by PJeffQ
Hodges questions Rumsfeld on terror prisoners in South Carolina
After our initial story yesterday concerning the possibility of terrorist suspects being held in the Charleston area in the near future, we received further, sometimes conflicting, information. Apparently the office of Governor Jim Hodges received similar mixed signals.
After we reported that NBC Nightly News said that prisoners from the war in Afghanistan would be held on the closed Naval Base in Charleston, MSNBC.com reported, along with other sources, that only suspects arrested inside the United States would be held there. All of this came on the heels of a NY Times story about prisoners from the war being held on military installations inside the continental United States.
Then, in today's edition of The State, Washington correspondent Michelle Davis reported that the facility in question was the Consolidated Brig at the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek, not the former Navy base in North Charleston as previously reported by NBC.
According to that story, "The Pentagon said it planned to send only suspects arrested in the United States to the Navy Brig at the Charleston Naval Weapons Station."
Joe Maupin, of Sen. Fritz Hollings' Lowcountry office told The State that no prisoners would be transported to the Weapons Station from other countries while Congressman Henry Brown (R-1st District) told The State that he hopes "it will not come to pass" and cited security concerns related to the close proximity of "key sites" including the Navy's SPAWAR (Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command), the Port of Charleston and residential neighborhoods in the area.
Brown told The State that he learned of the possibility of prisoners being detained there from an Undersecretary of Defense and that he objected at the time. Hollings was out of the country and not available for comment while Congressman James Clyburn (R-6th District) and Senator Strom Thurmond had "no objection" according to the article. Congressman John Spratt (D-5th District) told the newspaper that he "did not have information" on the plan and it appeared to be "makeshift."
Weapons Station officials said they didn't have information on the plans either.
According to the article, "Cmdr. Scott Crossley, the second-in-command at the Charleston Naval Weapons Station, said the base has no existing facilities that could house them."
All of these mixed signals apparently caused Governor Jim Hodges to draft a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld today.
The Hodges letter referred to conflicting reports that the Defense Department planned to house terrorist suspects "at a military facility located in North Charleston, South Carolina."
The letter mentioned that the conflicting reports related to the type of prisoners that would possibly be held there. These include either "only suspects arrested and detained in the United States" or suspects captured in Afghanistan and placed in military bases inside the United States.
Hodges also copied the letter to members of the SC Congressional delegation.
Hodges previously asked for (and did not receive) fifteen minutes of the President's time to discuss homeland security when Bush gave a speech in December 2001 at The Citadel.
Cool. That is a large, and quite new facility. I doubt there are many inmates there.
Hodges previously asked for (and did not receive) fifteen minutes of the President's time to discuss homeland security when Bush gave a speech in December 2001 at The Citadel.
Hmmm. Maybe we could just turn the terror suspects over to the Citadel and run them through their freshman indoctrination?
I'm sure NBC knew this from the get go.
According to the article, "Cmdr. Scott Crossley, the second-in-command at the Charleston Naval Weapons Station, said the base has no existing facilities that could house them."
Only one place has the Hodges letter to Rumsfeld...
and it isn't TV or print (at least not yet)... and they probably will just excerpt it and not print the whole thing...
So no one knows what sort of people are being held?
Deal with it Governor, and be grateful we have a military that kicked butt and took prisoners.
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