Braley: Don’t politicize debate over location of terror suspects

Those who immediately voiced opposition to a possible plan to move detainees currently housed at a military prison in Guantanamo Bay into a revamped facility on the Illinois-Iowa border should take time to research instead of offering knee-jerk reactions, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley said today.

“I’m not going to engage in political fear mongering about something that is very serious to the safety and security to the people I represent,” Braley said Wednesday afternoon on a conference call with reporters.

In particular, Braley singled out Matt Strawn, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, as someone who appears to be engaged in politicizing the discussion. Earlier today Strawn issued a press release that called on Braley, who has not yet made a decision regarding the move of detainees to the Illinois facility, to “reverse his support for housing Guantanamo terrorist detainees on American soil and near the Iowa border.”

“My question for people like Matt Strawn is, ‘Where were you when convicted terrorists were being housed in federal prisons in the Midwest?’ There are 340 inmates, who are either connected to international or domestic terrorism, and 35 of those inmates are currently already incarcerated in federal prisons in the state of Illinois.”

One of those housed in Illinois, according to Braley, is an Al-Qaeda sleeper agent who is an inmate in a federal prison in Marion, Ill. Others include individuals convicted of being involved in international drug cartels.

“If people had taken the time like I did to travel to Thomson, Ill. and get an extensive briefing from the Federal Bureau of Prisons director, they would be aware of this fact,” he said.

Federal authorities are considering the purchase of a prison facility near the town of Thomson, Ill., located just across the Mississippi River from Clinton. The facility, which was constructed in 2001 yet never fully used by the state, would be modified and used as a maximum-security facility that is anticipated not only to house between 100 and 150 detainees from Guantanamo Bay, but also roughly 1,400 other federally convicted individuals. It is unknown at this time if the Federal Bureau of Prisons would still be interested in purchasing the facility if it were not available for housing the terrorism suspects.

On Monday, Braley traveled to Thomson to meet with local authorities and residents, and to receive a private briefing and tour of the prison facility. During the briefing, Braley said many of his questions were about the public services impact that would be experienced by Clinton, which is the largest community in the immediate geographical area.

“I wanted to know how it would impact the people I represent from both a safety/security and economic standpoint,” he said.

The area surrounding the prison in both Iowa and Illinois has been hit hard by the recent economic downturn. The projected economic impact of the facility, if the plan moves forward, is $1 billion annually, based upon the additional federal prison employees that would be hired once the facility is operational and the construction and other workers that would provide the modifications to prepare the facility.

“One of the things I made clear when I met with these officials is that I’m keeping an open mind, and that I would not make up my mind on whether or not I felt this was a good decision until I had been fully briefed and had an opportunity to share concerns that had been expressed with the constituents I represent in Iowa,” said Braley. “We are working right now with the federal officials to try to set up some type of a public meeting on the Iowa side so that residents can come, share their concerns and learn more about how this decision, if it is implemented, will impact them.”

Although details are still being worked out for the exact date of that meeting, Braley said he would like to see it held in Clinton due to the impact the facility will have on that community.

“The thing that people are forgetting is that there is going to be a very large population at the Thomson facility that are not detainees, but are very dangerous individuals — just as there are at other maximum-security federal prisons all over the county,” Braley said. “I think people need to be thinking about the implications of bringing those individuals into the area just as seriously as they are the possibility of bringing very dangerous people in from Guantanamo.”

If the facility is selected and the terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay are housed there, those individuals will be transported to the east coast for prosecution and trial. Also, even if they are found not guilty of their charges, none of them will ever be released on U.S. soil. Due to Congressional mandates, those individuals would need to be transported to their home country for release, or perhaps handed to a different country for further criminal prosecution.

Although housing detainees from Guantanamo on American soil has recently become a partisan issue, individuals on both sides of the political aisle have expressed their support for closing the facility, which many believe has become a recruitment rallying cry for terrorists.