Defense officials are considering relocating some Guantanamo Bay detainees to the military's maximum security prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, but if representatives from Kansas have anything to say about it, they will do no such thing.
Transferring prisoners to Leavenworth is far too risky, according to Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), because the prison is too close to water.
“Fort Leavenworth is neither the ideal nor right location for moving Guantánamo detainees,” Roberts wrote to Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter. “The installation lies right on the Missouri River, providing terrorists with the possibility of covert travel underwater and attempting access to the detention facility.”
Likewise, Representative Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) vocally opposes the plan to relocate detainees to her district because the danger to her constituents and the rest of America is far too great.
Kansas Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins, whose district includes Leavenworth, called any plans to relocate the detainees to the United States a “reckless proposal.”
“I will continue my work to keep these terrorists from being transferred to Fort Leavenworth or anywhere in the United States,” she said in a Friday statement.
This is just the latest reminder that Congress is filled with scardey pants cowards whose ranks are not exclusive to Republicans. Congressional Republicans are the current, primary obstacle blocking the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but Congressional Democrats have also opposed the relocation of detainees and closure of the prison during previous sessions of Congress.
Congress has blocked the closure of Gitmo every single year since President Obama took office.
I feel confident in saying the United States houses plenty of domestic criminals on our home turf who are far more dangerous than the majority of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
For some reason, adding the "terrorist" label to an individual invites fantastical delusions into the minds of lawmakers who are concerned the terrorist version of SEAL Team 6 will penetrate our borders and covertly travel under water like Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery infiltrating the island prison of Alcatraz.
A cursory search of the intertubes tells me there have only been too high profile escapes from Leavenworth in the last 100 years.