Oh really? Well, I know it's the conventional liberal Democrat wisdom, but is it true? The charge briefly surfaced during a press conference with Senate Democrat Harry Reid in which he was asked why he and his party colleagues had stripped money needed for closing Guantanamo from an appropriations bill.
'REID: Change course on what?
QUESTION: On funding the closing of Guantanamo Bay.
REID: Well, the decision to close Guantanamo was a right one.
I agree with President Bush. I agree with John McCain. I agree with Barack Obama . Guantanamo makes us less save.
However, this is neither the time nor the bill to deal with this. Democrats under no circumstances will move forward without a comprehensive, responsible plan from the president. We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
REID: No, I really don’t think so.
We have -- of course, coming in July, there’s going to be a study that will be put forth on detainees -- what should be done in that regard. The president knew that was coming.
REID: I think this is a very -- the thing that we did is waiting for the plan from the president. He didn’t hold us out to dry at all -- hang us out to dry, not at all.
QUESTION: If the United States -- if the United States thinks that these people should be held, why shouldn’t they be held in the United States? Why shouldn’t the U.S. take those risks, the attendant risk of holding them, since it’s the one that says they should be held?
REID: I think there’s a general feeling, as I’ve already said, that the American people, and certainly the Senate, overwhelmingly doesn’t want terrorists to be released in the United States. And I think we’re going to stick with that.
QUESTION: What about in imprisoned in the United States?
REID: If you’re...
(CROSSTALK)
REID: If people are -- if terrorists are released in the United States, part of what we don’t want is them be put in prisons in the United States. We don’t want them around the United States.'
OK. We're less safe because of Guantanamo, but we'll be more "less safe" releasing the terrorists, or even putting them in U.S. prisons.
'REID: I’m saying that the United States Senate, Democrats and Republicans, do not want terrorists to be released in the United States. That’s very clear.
QUESTION: No one’s talking about releasing them. We’re talking about putting them in prison somewhere in the United States.
REID: Can’t put them in prison unless you release them.
QUESTION: Sir, are you going to clarify that a little bit? I mean (OFF-MIKE)'
Yes, please clarify. If Guantanamo is making us less safe, presumably by inflaming anti-American passions, aren't these Democrats fanning the flames by keeping it front and center as a political issue? And, it's for the sole purpose of smearing the Bush administration. Nothing more.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, reality has once again reared its ugly head. Just as Obama found he needed to reverse his previous rejection of the Bush administration military tribunals, Democrats have discovered that closing Guantanamo is not such a great idea after all. The rationale for not doing what they promised to do can get pretty entertainin -- cant' put them in prison unless you release them? Uh, OK.
Well I guess it can get to be pretty overwhelming.
'QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) mean that Guantanamo will remain open indefinitely (OFF-MIKE)
REID: I repeat: I agree with McCain, Bush and Obama: Guantanamo should be closed because it makes us less safe and it will be closed. We’re waiting for a plan from the president and (OFF- MIKE).
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
REID: Can’t say anything but what I’ve said, and re-said it three times. Can’t say it four times. That’s how I feel.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) because if a detainee -- if a detainee is adjudicated not to be a terrorist, could that detainee then enter the United States?
REID: Why don’t we wait for a plan from the president? All we’re doing now is nitpicking on language that I have given you. I’ve been as clear as I can. I think I’ve been pretty clear.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) what have you heard about (OFF-MIKE)
REID: What you want me to be is not very clear.
QUESTION: But Senator, Senator, it’s not that you’re not being clear when you say you don’t want them released. But could you say -- would you be all right with them being transferred to an American prison?
REID: Not in the United States.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
REID: I think I’ve had about enough of this.'
Like Nancy Pelosi's idiotic charges of torture, it turns back on them. In the end they vindicate Bush administration policies. But what nasty, stupid people we have in charge of our House and Senate with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid. With that pair our national interest wins out over their political advantage only by accident. It's nothing new, though.
(Updated at 1:23pm)
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