Bringing GITMO to U.S. is Both Unnecessary and Unsafe

SACRAMENTO – Move America Forward (MAF), the nation’s largest grassroots pro-troop organization, is disturbed about reports from multiple news sources yesterday that Obama Administration officials have admitted they are working on plans for relocating terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to an existing facility in the U.S.

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Move America Forward opposes spending tax payers' money to upgrade and secure a new site in the U.S. to house the detainees just to mirror the existing facility. Plain and simple, Gitmo serves its purpose and works, and there is no need to set up a similar facility in the U.S. for the purpose of putting politics over the safety of our country. In 2006, the group traveled to Guantanamo Bay to visit the base. MAF reported that Guantanamo Bay was the only appropriate facility to house and prosecute detainees, and that they found no signs of mistreatment. Detainees were in fact treated with as much or more respect than they deserved. Shawn Callahan, Executive Director of MAF, said “We absolutely oppose any plan to house Gitmo detainees anywhere in the United States, which will put American lives in jeopardy. It is clear that President Obama is more concerned with appeasing the liberal wing of his party and, based on polls, is out of step with the majority of Americans.” Move America Forward has been at the center of the Gitmo debate, held press conferences with U.S. Senator James Inhofe and produced advertisements for television to debate the issue. Callahan said that, “Bringing the detainees to U.S. soil would avail them rights under U.S. courts that the detainees do not deserve. Upgrading U.S. prisons with higher security and courtrooms in-house makes no sense when Guantanamo Bay already has those facilities. And even more dangerous is the possibility that once in the U.S. prison system, the terrorists could spread their radical views to other inmates or the facilities could even become a target for further terrorist attacks.”

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