GOP Officials Push Alcatraz As The New Guantanamo

Last week, Congressman Bill Young suggested that as the Obama administration closes Guantanamo Bay, it could send some of the detainees in need of a holding facility to Alcatraz, the famous former prison off the San Francisco coast.

On Sunday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi reminded Young that his statement makes no sense.

"Perhaps he has not visited Alcatraz," said the San Francisco Democrat, appearing on ABC's This Week. "And let me say, Bill Young is a great member of Congress and I have a great deal of respect for his opinion. Alcatraz is a tourist attraction. It's a prison that is now sort of like a national park."

Indeed, Robert Kennedy (as Attorney General) shut down Alcatraz as a federal prison in 1963. The site was turned into a national recreation area in 1972 and became a national historic landmark in 1986.

One can easily imagine an ambitious Hollywood producer turning Young's suggestion into a sequel to The Rock -- Guantanamo detainees, dropped off at Alcatraz, hold tourists visiting the prison hostage as they demand Habeas rights.

Comments

[Sanfranciscan2009]

12:22 AM on 01/27/2009

Bush and his administration should have thought about where to accomodate those dangerous terrorists in USA before they brought them to Guantanamo in Cuba.Now they are leaving that task also to Obama to figure it out inaddition to the trillion dollar deficits they gifted to him.If people in this country are wise and intelligent they should never elect republicans for decades for all the mess they created for our country.Before accomodating those terrorists in alcatraz, they should be allowed to appear in Rush Limbaugh show and Hannity's America.What if their prosecution techniques work and we get the where abouts of Osama Bin laden and his network?Dont rule it out or underestimate Rush and Sean.They are pretty smart individuals and if lucky enough this might prove to be a silver lining in their life and next president and vice president could very well be Rush and Sean .Who else among conservatives can lead this country better than this two proud conservatives?

[Oblique]

05:20 PM on 01/26/2009

Terrorists from the 1993 bombing of the WTC are in U.S. jails, someone alert the GOP.

[DubiousAtBest]

04:05 PM on 01/26/2009

The GOP has been watching too many movies and TV.

Alcatraz is a dilapidated crumbling ruin, not a prison.

[Oblique]

02:02 PM on 01/26/2009

WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING SUSPECT APPREHENDED IN PAKISTAN

Attorney General Janet Reno said today that Ramzi Ahmed
Yousef, a fugitive indicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
in New York City, has been arrested abroad and returned to the
United States by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be tried on
the bombing charges.
White said "The message that this sends is that we will pursue
accused terrorists wherever they seek to hide and bring them to
justice."
Four of Yousef's co-defendants were convicted of federal
charges on March 4, 1994, in the World Trade Center bombing:
Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima, and Ahmad
Mohammad Ajaj. They have each been sentenced to 240 years of
imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The indictment charged Yousef, 27, who was born in the Middle
East, with 11 counts relating to the World Trade Center bombing.
The most serious charges carry a maximum penalty upon conviction of
life in prison without parole.
The indictment said Yousef, using a false name, flew to New
York from Pakistan in September 1992, and later purchased
chemicals. In January and February 1993, the indictment said,
Yousef and other co-conspirators mixed chemicals in a Jersey City,
New Jersey, apartment to produce explosive materials.
The co-conspirators caused an explosive device to detonate in
a van in a garage area beneath the World Trade Center complex on
February 26, 1993, the indictment said.

[victoria38]

02:19 PM on 01/26/2009

There must be a point here somewhere...

[Oblique]

02:36 PM on 01/26/2009

It is obious reading and comprehension are not your strong suits. ( Next time I'll type slower.)

[victoria38]

01:08 PM on 01/26/2009

I just heard on MSNBC that the Gitmo detainees had requested the ACLU to seek an injunction to stop closure of Gitmo...they do not want to go back to their home country. At Gitmo they get 3 squares a day...pray several times a day...read their Koran...free health care...clean beds...clean clothes...
Story developing, will keep you posted...

[Nikola Tesla]

01:14 PM on 01/26/2009

UR SO FOS.

[victoria38]

01:19 PM on 01/26/2009

Very intellectual Nikola...thanks

[victoria38]

01:22 PM on 01/26/2009

Here's my Gitmo solution posted last nite..whaddaya think ??

OK...let's get serious..why not put all the detainess in 1 big room....give them all Vi*gra, and free the last man standing...

[klemency]

01:03 PM on 01/26/2009

I say we call his bluff.

[shades3]

11:58 AM on 01/26/2009

By all means, let's compound the original error. This business of finding some other prison to put those who are now in Guantanamo, before any decision on whether or not some, or even most should have been imprisoned at all boggles the mind.
Why do most assume that the answer is where to further imprison people who have not even been legally tried and found guilty of anything, rather than how to right the wrong and send them home?
The ones who are actually found guilty of a crime will be much fewer than those who were simply accused of committing offences, with no proof and certainly no trial at the end of which they were found guilty.
Even the most heinous criminals in our justice system are given legal representation, trials and verdicts.
What are the former Bush Adminstration and their enablers afraid of?
Are they afraid that they may be held responsible for hundreds of people being unjustly incarcerated for YEARS??

[victoria38]

01:18 PM on 01/26/2009

The supreme court has ruled that the detainees can be held indefinitely, without charges, for the duration of the war on terror...now if the war lasts 50 years then these guys will be dying off anyway, and the problem will go away...

[sawdustinhershoes]

11:46 AM on 01/26/2009

I'd prefer it if the GOP was more worried about our economy and the millions who are jobless, homeless, hungery. I'd prefer it if the GOP would just f-ing grow up!

[victoria38]

01:02 PM on 01/26/2009

News flash sawdust...the GOP is not in charge...you Dems are...Obama could end Gitmo TODAY, if he really wanted to...And the Dems have the votes to pass any bill Obama desires...So the blame game on the GOP has come to an end...you have the WH...the senate..and the house...so let's get moving..my unemployment is running out !!!

[DubiousAtBest]

04:03 PM on 01/26/2009

NEWSFLASH

I think he already made the decision.
Although it's impossible to do it literally overnight.

[toddag]

11:32 AM on 01/26/2009

Put them in Nancy's district and get rid of a National Monument. Two birds with one stone. Way to go GOP! (Don't forget to privatize the prison, 'cause someone's got to profit!)

[Nikola Tesla]

11:08 AM on 01/26/2009

This just in: the GOP has lost touch with reality.

[bluerednot]

11:00 AM on 01/26/2009

What about the Alamo? or
Fort Jefferson and the Dry Tortugas section of the Florida Keys?

[hortonhearsawho2]

10:54 AM on 01/26/2009

I'm sure Burt lan.caster would not approve...

[Nikola Tesla]

10:44 AM on 01/26/2009

I guess Krack is on sale again in D.C.

[Oblique]

10:10 AM on 01/26/2009

The 1992 bombers of the World Trade Center are in US jails!!!!

[AsianAfricanAMERICAN]

10:19 AM on 01/26/2009

See Dems have it right. Prevent terrorism from happening, then catch the perpetrators and try them and put them in prison.

[victoria38]

01:04 PM on 01/26/2009

Makes no sense Asian...if you prevent the terrorism, there are no perps to catch !!

[Muttonchops]

10:26 AM on 01/26/2009

Yes, but they were prosecuted and convicted in a regular criminal court, with full rights to a legal defense and appeal.

[Oblique]

12:13 PM on 01/26/2009

My point exactly!! The GOP's argument not in my backyard has no basis since the people convicted of bombing the WTC in 1992 are in U.S. jails. Timothy McVeigh was in a U.S. jail. Does the GOP think the American people have amnesia? Hell I even remember the bailout of the S & L of the 1980's. ( under Republican President and caused by Mr. Deregulatory himself Ronald Reagan)

[Muttonchops]

09:34 AM on 01/26/2009

The solution to the problem of the Guantanamo detainees is simple. Divide them into 2 groups, those we have sufficient clear evidence to prosecute in a regular U.S. court and those we don’t. If we can prosecute them, we should, but those we can’t should be immediately released to the country where they were captured or, preferably, to their home country, if this can be definitely established. If that country doesn’t want them we should forcibly return them anyway, by whatever means is necessary. The argument that some can’t be legally prosecuted but are “too dangerous” to release is specious. Even if they immediately rejoin a terrorist organization, which some certainly will, they’ll be no more dangerous than the average new recruit. The bad press we create in the muslim countries by holding these people is a recruiting bonanza for the terrorists. Indirectly, we are creating thousands of new terrorists. Releasing the few still in Guantanamo would be a drop in the bucket.