Some to block Gitmo closingBy Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 15, 2009
WASHINGTON — As the president-elect’s incoming administration looks at possible locations to relocate detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Republican lawmakers from those districts have already begun voicing opposition to the moves.
Sources within Barack Obama’s transition team have said that an announcement on the closing of the Guantanamo detention facilities could come within hours of his inauguration. Shutting down the prison and relocating the 260-plus terrorist suspects to other locations was one of Obama’s campaign promises.
But moving those prisoners to U.S. military bases could create a distraction or possible target for future terrorist attacks, lawmakers warned this week. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., called rumored plans to use Fort Leavenworth in his district an "unwise and unsafe" idea. He invited the president-elect down to the facility, promising tours of the Army’s Command General Staff College and other training areas.
"He will find that once you see the base up close, it’s hard to show why terror suspects should be housed in Kansas," he said in a statement.
Freshman Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Calif., similarly dismissed ideas that detainees could be housed at the Marine Corps base in his district.
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