EDITORIAL: Why not our backyard?

“Quantico Marine Corps base should not be the new home of Guantanamo Bay detainees, U.S. House Republicans, including Frank Wolf and Eric Cantor, said Thursday.”

That is from a Friday News & Messenger article about where detainees might go after the facility is closed. But the statement begs a question: Why not?

Many Republicans and other opponents of allowing terrorist detainees to be held in facilities in the United States cite the danger involved. But what specifically is the danger?

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was quoted in a Los Angeles Times articles as saying the following: “By releasing trained terrorists in civilian communities in the United States, the
administration will, by definition, endanger the American people.”

OK, but we are not talking about releasing terrorists into civilian communities. We are talking about holding them prisoner in U.S. facilities. They won’t be roaming around the local grocery store, bombs
tied to their waists, waiting for the next opportunity to kill Americans. They will be behind locked doors. So what difference does it make if it’s the U.S. mainland or the shores of Guantanamo Bay on the
other side?

It is true that some detainees might be released into the American population, but these are people who are no longer considered “enemy combatants.” We must presume that means they are not a
danger, since “enemy combatants” are held indefinitely because of the threat they pose. Detainees who are actually terrorists and were kept at Guantanamo justifiably should not be set free. They should
be held, tried, sentenced and, perhaps, after a very long time, sent back from whence they came.

Back to the subject of keeping terrorists prisoner on the mainland, is the fear that they might escape and wreak havoc on innocent civilians? But how is that threat any greater than the threat of escape
from any number of “trained” criminals housed in the plethora of prisons all around our country?

Escape is a risk, but no greater because one is a terrorist and the other is a criminal. In fact, the carnage caused by criminals in the United States is, no doubt, greater than from terrorists. Of course,
people don’t want prisons in their backyards either, but collectively we recognize the need for them.

And so we should recognize the need to relocate Guantanamo’s detainees. The facility has become a stain on the moral purity of the United States, and its closing will go a long way toward returning a
portion of our sullied reputation.

Guantanamo’s prisoners must go somewhere, and it would seem that a Marine Corps Base would be one of the most secure options. So, again, we ask: Why not Quantico?