Gitmo. Get Going

It as announced that President Obama plans on sending some of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners to prisons in Illinois.  The prisoners, alledged terrorists, will be held in Thompson Prison which lies 150 miles west of Chicago. It’s in the sticks, an extremely rural area in Illinois. I would question this as a good location for them, but politics and self-knowledge about the Illinois economy preclude it.

There has been a shortage of good paying jobs in some parts of Illinois for decades.  With the preparation of the prison there, people will have jobs. Thank goodness for that.  However, this only relieves part of the problem.  The Gitmo detainees have not had justice since 2001 when the invasion of their homeland began.  We (America-Bush/Cheney) brought them here without a trial, without so much as an honoring of the Geneva Convention.  There was always a way around it.  

Bush II could always avoid the issue rather than deal with it.  Now it lies on the shoulders of President Obama. I know deep down he wants to do the right thing for everyone -America, the detainees, the rest of the world. It’s not as simple as it would seem when you’re viewing from the sidelines. Even I know that.  And now he has been handed the ball.  His predecessor was a messy man, lots of drama and cleanup.  No need to complain about that now.  We have to move forward.

The opening of the prison to the Gitmo detainees will do wonders for Illinois.  Jobs, by necessity, will be created.  The detainees will actually have access to a legal system that they’ve been denied for eight long years, some of whom have only the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The detainees will have access to Imams and spiritual leaders. Perhaps they can write home and end the torment of their families who have no idea of their fate.

I am praying that this will work.  We need justice, but not at the cost of inhumanity.  Bravo POTUS!  You’re doing the right thing.