According to The Hill, Democratic Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has changed his position and now thinks an artificial deadline to close Guantanamo is not a good idea. Senator Webb also opposes bringing any detainees to American soil. He stated that:
"We spend hundreds of millions of dollars building an appropriate facility with all security precautions in Guantanamo to try these cases," Webb said. "There are cases against international law. These aren't people who were in the United States, committing a crime in the United States. These are people who were brought to Guantanamo for international terrorism. I do not believe they should be tried in the United States."
The wisdom of the policies of George Bush regarding the war on terror is beginning to shine forth. This is an interesting statement for a variety of reasons, first, when George Bush was President, the Senate wanted Guantanamo closed down 'yesterday', now that the facility is under President Obama, they don't seem to be in such a hurry. One reason might be that the political advantage in screaming for Guantanamo's closing is gone. Another reason might be that any Senator or Representative that ends up housing terrorists in his (or her) district is not going to be popular with the people who live there.
Jed Babbin reported in Human Events in April of this year that the White House lawyers were refusing to accept the findings of an inter-agency committee that the Uighur Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay are too dangerous to release inside the U.S. President Obama had planned to settle the Uighurs in Virginia somewhere and give them financial aid to help them get settled. I don't think it is a coincidence that Jim Webb is the Senator from Virginia and that he has gone on the record as wanting a slowdown on the closing of Guantanamo and no resettlement of terrorists in this country. This situation should be interesting to watch.
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