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Hardin, Montana, wants to take in Guantanamo prisoners

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from today's Homeland Security Daily Wire - The Business of Homeland Security:

Hardin, Montana, wants to take in Guantanamo prisoners
Published 28 May 2009

Hardin, Montana (pop. 4,300) had a problem: it invested $27 million in a 464-bed modern prison facility which is standing empty; the city council offered to use it to house Guantanamo prisoners; Montana's congressional delegation objects

Hardin, Montana, is a small town (population 4,300), and as is the case with many other small towns in America, it is hurting for jobs these days. It also has a surplus of prime real estate, assuming that anything other than buffalo steaks can be called prime in the microscopic hamlet in southeastern Montana.

Jack Rogers writes in Business Facilities that the hard times are evident everywhere you look. Downtown Hardin, not a bustling city center even in good times, is quieter than ever. The Dollar Store reportedly is going out of business and the Mini Mall soon will be shuttered. A few blocks away, a new $27-million detention facility also sits empty.

A few years ago, when they floated some bonds to build the Two Rivers Regional Correctional Facility, Hardin's city fathers hoped the prison would generate employment opportunities beyond the handful of guards. Short-order cooks would be engaged to feed the staff and inmates, and a couple of locksmiths would be on call to keep the latches working, and more.

It didn't work out that way. The facility has yet to house any prisoners, even though it was ready to receive them two years ago.

The 464-bed prison has surveillance cameras, a magnetometer, and dozens of orange prison jump suits in a storage room filled with shoes, towels, blankets, razors, and underwear. It also has a generous supply of riot helmets, gas masks, batons, shields, and guns for guards. There are no prisoners, though.

This is when the leaders of the down decided to improvise. When they caught wind of the debate in Washington over President Obama's decision to close Guantanamo, Greg Smith, Hardin's economic development administrator, decided to act. He announced to Hardin's city council that he had come up with an idea that could solve everybody's problem.

He suggested that Hardin take all of the detainees in Guantanamo and bring them to the prison in Hardin. ''It would bring jobs. Believe it or not, it would even bring hope and opportunity,'' he later told CNN.

Smith told CNN that the cells could be modified to keep detainees separated. He points out that because only terror detainees would be housed at Two Rivers, they could not radicalize run-of-the-mill felons. Smith also told CNN that a large dormitory room in the prison, now filled with empty bunk beds, could be converted into a mosque.

Hardin's city council voted 5-0 to endorse the idea.

Montana's congressional delegation, however, objected. The state's two U.S. senators made it clear that Smith's proposal is a non-starter. "Housing potential terrorists in Montana is not good for our state," said Senator Max Baucus. ''These people stop at nothing. Their primary goal in life, and death, is to destroy America.'' Senator Jon Tester also weighed in -- ''I just don't think it's appropriate, that's all. I don't think they know what they're asking for.''
 
That's good. Maybe they'll actually have rights if they are on American soil.
 
the state promised to house prisoners there if it was built...it was finished in 2007 and now the state has gone back on its word.....thats a poor chunk of country.....good paying jobs are needed....besides any escapies would prolly head south.....thats Crow Indian Territory.....only more dangerous chunk of country in the state would be the Blackfoot Reservation....i grew up and live on the Sioux and Assiniboine reservation.....i REFUSE to stop on the Blackfoot when i go to Glacier/Kalispell area.....
 
That's good. Maybe they'll actually have rights if they are on American soil.

to hell with that they ARE NOT AMERICAN CITIZENS.......they do not have those kinds of rights....do not deserve those rights.....as far as im concerned they should just been shot and not brought over here.....
 
Guantanamo was originally built in hopes that it would be beyond the law. That turned out not to be the case anyway, so who cares where the prison is?
 
hahah Prisoners?! Please....last I checked prisoners did not get healthcare... Make em do something useful rather then keeping them fed and warm in front of a TV. These b******* get more health coverage then the average Joe. Put them to work for something useful and feed em them strictly bacon and pig's milk....
 
alright....interesting idea....i could prolly get behind it.....but ive never heard of milking a pig :D

as for their conditions.....just forget to pay the heat bill bout January.....be interesting to see how they handle -40 or lower :D
 
to hell with that they ARE NOT AMERICAN CITIZENS.......they do not have those kinds of rights....do not deserve those rights.....as far as im concerned they should just been shot and not brought over here.....

hahah Prisoners?! Please....last I checked prisoners did not get healthcare... Make em do something useful rather then keeping them fed and warm in front of a TV. These b******* get more health coverage then the average Joe. Put them to work for something useful and feed em them strictly bacon and pig's milk....


I'm actually friends with several people who were held at Guantanamo Bay. They committed no crime and when they were released several years later, they were not charged with anything.

There are innocent people being held at Guantanamo Bay. Even guilty ones should be treated like humans.

Also, I don't like the idea of the bacon and pig milk. I'm a Muslim and I would rather die than eat pig. During the Holocaust, do you think it would be okay for Nazis to force Jewish prisoners to eat pig? If not, why do you think it should be done to Muslims?
 
I'm actually friends with several people who were held at Guantanamo Bay. They committed no crime and when they were released several years later, they were not charged with anything.

There are innocent people being held at Guantanamo Bay. Even guilty ones should be treated like humans.

Also, I don't like the idea of the bacon and pig milk. I'm a Muslim and I would rather die than eat pig. During the Holocaust, do you think it would be okay for Nazis to force Jewish prisoners to eat pig? If not, why do you think it should be done to Muslims?



No no no, dont get me wrong. I'm not saying feed every muslim some pig and force jews to do the same. I'm saying that these guys are blowing themselves up and killing innocent ppl and forcing their religious views on others by basically using scare tactics. I have many muslim, hindu and jewish friends, so please dont see this as a 'hate' comment. I'm simply saying they deserve the same 'respect' that they give by committing these atrocities.

I'm also not saying that ALL at guantanamo are guilty but if you're in Al Quaeda or any other terrorist association that very well speaks for itself...

I'm also not making this a one sided argument, what Bush did was flat out illegal and wrong. By physically torturing prisoners he violated the Geneva convention, there is no justification for that, no matter how angry you are.

So please dont take what I said the wrong way. Simply an eye for an eye. Even if that leaves the world 'blind'.
And by that I mean to THOSE ppl directly responsible. Not by going in and invading foreign lands...
 
  • #10
By physically torturing prisoners he violated the Geneva convention, there is no justification for that, no matter how angry you are.

actually you need to read the Geneva Convention.......most those in Gitmo DO NOT fall under the Geneva Convention cause they arent following it......the Geneva Convention ONLY covers uniformed combatants.....if you dress in civilian clothes, hide amongst the civilian population you are not afforded the protection of the Geneva Convention cause your refusing to follow the rules of war agreed apon by those nations who signed it....the Somali pirates also do not fall under the protection of the Geneva Convention....
 
  • #11
actually you need to read the Geneva Convention.......most those in Gitmo DO NOT fall under the Geneva Convention cause they arent following it......the Geneva Convention ONLY covers uniformed combatants.....if you dress in civilian clothes, hide amongst the civilian population you are not afforded the protection of the Geneva Convention cause your refusing to follow the rules of war agreed apon by those nations who signed it....the Somali pirates also do not fall under the protection of the Geneva Convention....


It should be common sense not to torture people and imprison people for years without charge
 
  • #12
torture? like cutting of a persons head with a hacksaw and sending the video to the families.........

i dont view water boarding as torture........especially not how the US did it the whopping 4 times it was used......water boarding like the Japanese did in WWII is.....death almost never results in the way the US does it....death was the goal with the Japanese......

as for imprisoning for years without trial.....i repeat these are not US citizens who are afforded rights under the US Constitution......if you look we arent the only one that does similar...the Brits did it with some IRA members they captured, most the western European nations who are in wars do......they are enemy combatants....not, nor ever were citizens of the country who is holding them...... ALOT of Asian nations do it aswell, and some of them aint even involved in any war....there are more than a few Americans citizens who were never involved in anything having to do with war locked up in Asian jails where they never received a trial.....
 
  • #13
An innocent person should not be treated like they have no rights just because they aren't a citizen. I could honestly care less about what they did to PROVEN terrorists as if they are killing people to force religious ideals on people that themselves scarcely follow shouldn't be treated as human. Though should not be permitted on those that have no been sentenced or holding those not charged for anything more then a few days.
 
  • #14
yestheycan.jpg


I made this recently in commemoration of Obama OK'ing torture. Since it's OK they ought to set free those kids who did the Abu Girab stuff, since we know now they really were "just following orders". Hell, we ought to carve their heads in the side of mountain somewhere so we can take a pilgrimage there! :D


"When the president does it it's not illegal." -Richard Nixon

Incase no one gets my angry jokes, I want America to be better than this. Gitmo, Abu Girab, the torture scandals and refusal to prosecute, is all complete disgrace. Everyone involved in perpetrating any levels of it should be jailed "indefinitely" and subjected to the same treatments they ordered, since it isn't torture I'm certainly not wrong to suggest it.
 
  • #15
as far as Abu Girab stuff.....i say if it cant get you into a fraternity at Chico State University it aint torture.....

as far as the radical muslims and how they should be treated.......this group is willing to die for their cause by strappin a bomb to themselves and walking into the middle of a market and pushing the button.....they activly seek out CIVILIAN targets instead of military ones.......they seem more willing to kill their own ppl......conventional rules of war DO NOT APPLY......the Geneva Convention was done so that if war between two countries that signed it breaks out they have guidelines to go by so when push comes to shove and the fighting stops they can go back to atleast tollerating each other without two much bad blood between them to cause sever tentions during times of peace....

as far as innocents in Gitmo....if the muslims would do a better job of policing their own maybe it wouldnt happen....growing up, no matter how good of a friend a guy was if he hit his girlfriend and the rest of us found out about it we beat some sense into them.....all i ask of the Muslims is the same....if you aint going to police your own, dont complain bout how someone else does the policing for you.....
 
  • #16
Here is some of the "torture" done at Guantanamo Bay:

* They were repeatedly punched, kicked, slapped, forcibly injected with drugs, deprived of sleep, hooded, photographed naked and subjected to body cavity searches and sexual and religious humiliations.

* The American guard told the inmates: "The world does not know you're here - we would kill you and no-one would know".

* Mr Iqbal said when he arrived at Guantanamo, one of the soldiers told him: "You killed my family in the towers and now it's time to get back at you".

* Mr Rasul said an MI5 officer had told him during an interrogation that he would be detained in Guantanamo for life.

* The men said they saw the beating of mentally-ill inmates.

* Another man was left brain damaged after a beating by soldiers as punishment for attempting suicide.

* The Britons said an inmate told them he was shown a video of hooded men - apparently inmates - being forced to sodomize one another.

* Guards threw prisoners' Korans into toilets and tried to force them to give up their religion

* one man had pepper-spray sprayed directly into his eyeball until his eyeball was white. He is now completely blind in that eye.

* Moazzam Begg experienced "strappado" (a form of torture in which the victim's hands are first tied behind their back, and then he or she is suspended in the air by means of a rope attached to wrists, which most likely dislocates both arms. Weights may be added to the body to intensify the effect and increase the pain.)







I can't see why Der_Führer approves of this.
 
  • #17
Der_F, you're missing the point entirely. These people aren't inmates that are being punished for a crime. Most of them haven't even been accused of a crime. I hate terrorists too but to fuel hatred for all Muslims is bigoted and closed-minded.
 
  • #18
First, everyone deserves a trial to see if they are guilty period, this is not Soviet Russia. The attitude of everyone else is doing so why don't we is great logic if you are 7 and in second grade. Its very likely that some of these people have done nothing wrong so lets give them a chance to state their case at least.

Torture is just unacceptable, I don't care who it is you are torturing or why. Plus there is pretty good evidence it doesn't work.

As for radical Islam instead of spending all this time and money on torturing them why don't we look at why the radicalize in the first place, wait that cant happen because that would be admitting the good ol' USA did something wrong and that's impossible. As for radical Muslims killing civilians, the US (and the mini-US Israel) does it all the time, unless you don't recognize the people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as people. They are just "acceptable" collateral damage, but some how we keep missing the people we mean to kill. Also since our former president claimed to speak with God and justified his invasion of Muslim countries through these converstations our country as a whole is just as guilty of using religion to justify the killing of massive numbers of people, so Christianity needs to police itself better too.

Support for the actions of the former administration with regard to the treatment of people in Gitmo is purely the result of ignorance and blind hate, which I can see is alive in well in some people around here, which is truely a sad state of being.
 
  • #19
Well I am the only Mod on right now but this is obviously a powderkeg and I see too many people waving lighters so I am making a preemptive decision and locking it. Once other Mods/Admin show up they can evaluate my action and unlock it if they think I am over reacting.
 
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