But while Gov. Patrick J. Quinn and Senator Richard J. Durbin endorsed housing the detainees at the Thomson Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in a rural area, other local leaders were drumming up opposition to the idea, which could still face considerable opposition in Congress.
For the White House, which confirmed the administration’s interest, it could be the best chance so far to cut through the legal and political knots that have stopped it from closing down the prison camp in Cuba. For supporters in Illinois, it is an attractive economic opportunity. And just as opponents have done elsewhere, some in Illinois cast this plan as an unacceptable risk.
Mr. Quinn and Mr. Durbin, in news conferences to promote the plan, said that turning over the state prison, which is unoccupied, to the federal penal system, and using it for maximum-security inmates including as many as 100 captives from the campaign against terrorism, would create several thousand jobs.
But leading Republicans in the state — including Representatives Donald Manzullo, whose district includes Thomson, and Mark Steven Kirk, who is running for the United States Senate seat once held by Mr. Obama — signed a letter to the president on Sunday strongly opposing any such move.
“As home to America’s tallest building, we should not invite Al Qaeda to make Illinois its No. 1 target,” the letter said, referring to the Willis Tower in Chicago, formerly the Sears Tower. “The United States spent more than $50 million to build the Guantánamo Bay detention facility to keep terrorists away from U.S. soil. Al Qaeda terrorists should stay where they cannot endanger American citizens.”
The sharp local debate echoed vehement arguments heard all weekend, after the administration announced that it would try the man accused as the operational leader of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and several co-conspirators, in a federal court in New York, while putting others accused of terrorism before military commissions for an attack on the U.S.S. Cole. That, too, was presented as a step along the path to closing Guantánamo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/us/16gitmo.html?hp
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- groups:
- News, US Politics, Progressive America, News and Information
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- tags:
- Prison, Guantanamo Bay, Illinois + add
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- current89
- added this
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The opponents of Guantanamo prisoners, being transferred to an Illinois Prison are cowards....Why are they afraid?...These prisoners will be held in a maximum security facility, without any chance of escaping...The State of Illinois will benefit from this decision, because it will create jobs and revenue for the State.....The opponents of this move, don't have a logical argument.....
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I think it is better than letting the prison sit idle.
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- LadybugLady
- 5 days ago
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150 miles west of Chicago!!!!!!!!!!! Thats WAY fucked up. I live 180 miles west of Chicago. The prison in thomson is less than 10 miles from where I used to live in Savannah ILL. Now I live 35 miles west of it. Keep Gitmo open.
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- Ihatethemall
- 5 days ago
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An overview of Tamms and some specifics about it from the Illnois Department of Corrections website. Yes it is impressive, but I still have plenty of reservations.I still believe somewhere out there is another option. There are entirely too many brilliant minds in this country for us to be unable to come up with another viable option. Alcatraz had no chance of escaping either. NANAC- You're right I am afraid, for my cousins who just lost their father... for the 3, 6, 11,15, and 19 year old girls living alone with their mother less than 45 minutes from the facility. That is way too close for comfort for me and hits way too close to home.
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- scarlettcutie_01
- 5 days ago
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Of course top Illinois Dems embraced the idea. They want the money.
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- samthesixth
- 5 days ago
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