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| Illinois tipped for Guantanamo inmates |
| 2009-11-15 |
| THE Obama administration is considering relocating some Guantanamo detainees to a mostly vacant prison in the President's home state of Illinois, US media reports. The Thomson Correctional Facility, a maximum-security state prison about 240km west of Chicago, Illinois, has emerged as the administration's "leading option" to house the terror suspects, the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday. CNN said senior officials from the Defence, Justice and Homeland Security departments would visit the 1600-cell facility tomorrow, along with Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. The reports came a day after President Barack Obama's administration announced it would try five accused plotters of the September 11, 2001 attacks -- including self-proclaimed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- in a civil court in New York City, just steps away from the scene of their alleged crime. In a sharply-worded rebuke of the prison plans, Republican Representative Mark Kirk urged the White House "to put the safety and security of Illinois families first and stop any plan to transfer Al-Qaeda terrorists to our state." Among the officials planning to visit the detention centre are representatives of the federal Bureau of Prisons, which would purchase the site if chosen and lease a portion of it to the Defence Department to house the Guantanamo detainees, CNN said, citing an administration official. "If your administration brings Al-Qaeda terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago metropolitan area will become ground zero for jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalisation," Kirk, a Senate candidate, said in a letter to Obama circulated among state lawmakers and officials. Quinn stressed in a statement that his "first priority is public safety and security, an issue that will definitely be part of any future discussions with federal prison authorities regarding Thomson." But the move could also bring much-needed funds to this depressed part of Illinois. The Government's purchase of the prison could bring an estimated 2340 to 3250 direct and indirect jobs, with an economic benefit to the region of between $US790 million ($856.46 million) and to $US1.1 billion ($1.19 billion) over four years, according to a preliminary administration analysis cited by the Quad-City Times. It estimated that the unemployment rate in Carroll County, home to the prison, could be halved. "It would help the businesses here, and God knows we could use that," Thomson resident Kay Lawton told the Tribune. "It doesn't matter to me who they bring here." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #4 The Blues Brothers can teach the muzz transferees how to play the |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2009-11-15 11:26 |
| #3 Nothing says 'impoverished third world rathole where the Constitution does not apply' like the Democratic Party Paradise of Illinois. Say, there are a lot of unoccupied/unsellable condo's in Chicagos 'South Loop' neighborhood, close to the Federal Courthouse, and Rich Daley can be their neighbor! |
| Posted by: Chaiter Pelosi4314 2009-11-15 11:17 |
| #2 The Government's purchase of the prison could bring an estimated |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-11-15 06:11 |
| #1 They'll feel right at home. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-11-15 04:26 |