South Carolina doesn't want Gitmo detainees

McClatchy/Miami Herald:

South Carolina lawmakers are mobilizing against the possible transfer of terrorist suspects from the Guantánamo Bay military prison to the Charleston naval brig under President-elect Barack Obama's pledge to close the controversial U.S. facility in Cuba.

Rep. Henry Brown, a Republican whose 1st Congressional District includes the Consolidated Naval Brig, introduced a bill Wednesday that would block the use of federal funds to move Guantánamo detainees to Charleston.

''Bringing these extremely dangerous war criminals, deemed too high of a threat to be sent home, would add an unnecessary terrorist threat to our community,'' Brown said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican who played a leading role in establishing military commissions at Guantánamo, also opposes holding any or all of its 250 remaining detainees in the Charleston brig.

''It doesn't make sense to hold them in an urban center like Charleston,'' Graham said. ``We should recognize that where they are detained will automatically become a terrorist target.''

Obama in recent days has said that fulfilling his campaign vow to shut down the U.S. prison camps in southeast Cuba will be an early priority after he takes office Jan. 20.

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Closing Gitmo is left wing PR taking precedence over common sense. Bringing the detainees to the states invites terrorist attempts to free their fellow terrorist. Taking them to Bagram in Afghanistan makes a little more sense, but it would put them in position for a jail break that could also free them. We are better off with them at Gitmo until the war is over.