Depending on your perspective, it could be a good thing that federal officials have not contacted Governor Bill Ritter or state Representative Buffie McFayden about the possibility of moving suspected terrorists now held in the Guantanamo Bay prison to Supermax in Florence.

The Associated Press, which reports that Colorado officials have not yet been contacted despite rumors the detainees could come to Colorado, adds a caveat: the U.S. Justice Department says the task force studying where to house the detainees hasn’t made any final decisions. Still, an indication of where the 100 foreign detainees might end up came yesterday as federal officials toured the mostly unused, 1,600-cell Thomson Correctional Center in rural Illinois, reigniting the partisan debate over the closure of Gitmo (via Reuters).

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try five detainees, including self-professed 9/11 mastermind Kalid Sheikh Mohammed, has spawned intense criticism from many Republican lawmakers, as well as some of the family members who lost loved ones in the 2001 attacks, according to CBS News.

Republicans have argued the attacks were war crimes and support military tribunals, while Democrats backing Holder say a trial in New York would illustrate the ideals of the American legal system to the world.

Posted 11/17/2009 at 9:09 am by Michael de Yoanna
Crime, Panorama, Politics, Rights :: Permalink :: Comments

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