Inhofe: Terrorists Already Incarcerated In The U.S. Were Just ‘Criminals’
Inhofe: Terrorists Already Incarcerated In The U.S. Were Just ‘Criminals’
Today the Senate is expected to pass an amendment banning the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States, even U.S. prisons. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) explained yesterday, “Can’t put them in prison unless you release them.”
This morning on CNN, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), author of the amendment, declared that moving detainees to maximum-security prisons or military bases would make those facilities “magnets to terrorism.” He claimed that the U.S. is “not set up to handle terrorist detainees”:
CHETRY: You don’t think that those facilities could keep some of these detainees secure, at the same time, protecting the surrounding communities?
INHOFE: No, I don’t, Kiran. [...]
CHETRY: There has been, though, here in the United States a number of people who have been convicted on terrorism-related charges in U.S. courts. … They’ve been held in our U.S. prisons. Why can’t that be replicated with the Guantanamo Bay detainees?
INHOFE: Because those individuals who are actually criminals, they actually committed crimes and were not involved in the type of — in the type of terrorist activity as we’ve been experiencing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Watch it:
In truth, the United States is more than equipped to handle a few dozen terrorist suspects. Indeed, dozens of dangerous terrorists are already held in American prisons. Inhofe tries to distinguish between those “criminals” and today’s terror detainees, but everyone knows that Timothy McVeigh, the Blind Sheikh, and Zacarias Moussaoui are terrorists. They know that because these men were convicted in U.S. courts and either executed or sentenced to life in prison at the Colorado Supermax.
Supermax isn’t the only place for terrorists or terrorist suspects. The high-security wing of the naval brig in Charleston, SC, confined Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri for more than five years; the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer notes that, “[u]nlike the staff at Abu Ghraib, the brig staff had been trained for the job. Their mission, as they saw it, was to run a safe, professional, and humane prison, regardless of who was held there.”
As the Center for American Progress’ Ken Gude told ThinkProgress, the U.S. has a long tradition of incarcerating terrorists:
The truth is that we have prosecuted and incarcerated some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists in the United States for decades, and doing so has made America safer. Beginning in the Reagan administration, the United States has captured more than a dozen terrorists overseas and brought them to justice in America. These terrorists are guilty of murdering dozens of Americans and more than 500 people worldwide, and include 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed of the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings, and Aafia Siddiqui who was captured in Afghanistan in 2008 and is awaiting trial in New York for the attempted murder of U.S. soldiers.
“Thousands of Americans work hard every day in maximum security prisons to keep these and other dangerous convicts safely locked away,” Gude said. Why do conservatives have such little faith in American security officials?
Read the Center for American Progress’ report on how to safely close the Guantanamo prison here.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
The one thing that is conveniently neglected when discussing ‘terrorists’ being incarcerated in prisons, even Supermax prisons, is that the prisoners themselves have a way of taking care of their own.
And I would expect that a suspected terrorist’s life span in prison would be about the same as a child molester… which is to say, measured in weeks….
May 20th, 2009 at 10:35 amShould’ve known: it makes absolutely no sense therefore Inhofe has something to do with it.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:38 amINHOFE: Because those individuals who are actually criminals, they actually committed crimes and were not involved in the type of — in the type of terrorist activity as we’ve been experiencing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
– - When exactly did we become The United Namby-Pamby States of America? Whadda buncha scared pussies in this country. If you’re SO afraid of an incarcerated terrorist, accused terrorist or criminal who is behind bars, then the terrorists have already won, fer crissakes.
Man up, you nanny-state wimps.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:38 amI seem to remember a terrorist cell that planned and carried out a bombing that killed 160+ Americans, and they were brought to justice, incarcerated and one was put to death.
And I seem to remember they were American citizens, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
Now what’s the difference again?
PEACE
May 20th, 2009 at 10:39 amNot only is this assinine statement is also flat out wrong and misleading.
The difference between the terrorists we currently hold in U.S. prisons and those at GITMO is that the ones in U.S. prison have been given some semblance of due process.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:39 amThose in Gitmo have not.
Cant this sickening bastard be put out to pasture? Oh, wait. Oklahomans elect him. We’re stuck with the idiot Inhofe for a long time I guess.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:41 amAnd I seem to remember they were American citizens, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
Now what’s the difference again?
To pretend Dem. Reid and Repuke Inhofe those you mentioned aren’t terrorists because they aren’t Muslims. I can see the bigotry in their words.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:43 amIs “Inhofe” Native American (or German?) for “dumb as a bag of rocks”?
May 20th, 2009 at 10:44 amRepublicans typically traffic in absurdity; it’s their bread-and-butter.
But occasionally their wild claims put them in a box like this, a box in which their nonsense become so clear that even committed Republicans can see it, if they’re inclined to think about it.
Problems is, most of those Republicans who are inclined to think about issues are no longer Republicans.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:45 amDNFP Says:
Is “Inhofe” Native American (or German?) for “dumb as a bag of rocks”?
Sounds Germanic to me but bag of rocks sounds better.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:45 amGude said, “Why do conservatives have such little faith in American security officials?”
Maybe he should ask Harry Reid the same question. Reid is not a leader. He happily handed Bushco everything they ever asked for and began butting heads with President Obama before he was even sworn in. He has been a roadblock for progressive legislation and is STILL acting as though the Republican Party is in charge. This tool must still be being blackmailed by Cheney and his moles at the CIA because what he says makes absolutely no sense. He is adamant about this whole “no terrorists in the US” bullshit? This is a leader of the Democratic Party!!?? And now he suddenly finds the purse strings in order to hamper Obama’s agenda after years of bending over for Bush despite the will of the American people. This man is a pathetic washed up DINO and needs to go.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:45 amincarcerated terrorist, accused terrorist or criminal who is behind bars
– - Hmm, pardon my redundant redundancy.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:46 amPansy little right wing cowards think America is so weak that we have to resort to war and torture to defeat a few terrorist criminals.
Only a pussy would think that.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:46 amMr. Inhofe, we need that space in Gitmo for you and your ilk after the investigations finish.
We certainly wouldn’t keep your kind right here in AMERICA!
May 20th, 2009 at 10:46 amWhat a bunch of wusses. This is a disgrace. We have the most prisons in the world. We have serial killers, rapists, and our own terrorists. Jesus, one good thing we have is prisons. How often do people escape? I’m tired of this crap.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:50 amThese are muslim MEN we are talking about right?! Mere mortals, not some kind of zombies or superhumans right!? We have held terrorists, mass murderers, the criminally insane and we managed to keep them away from the general public succesfully right!? Hey can you imagine a future where Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and the like are frogmarched into their new cells wearing their orange jumpsuits and are introduced to their new cellmates, former Gitmo detainees?
May 20th, 2009 at 10:53 amThere is no nation on Earth that has a prison system to rival ours. The US incarcerates something like one-fourth of all prisoners on the planet. More than China’s notoriously authoritarian regime.
If Inhofe and others of his ilk think terrorists cannot be secured in our prisons, WTF do they think these people are? Do they think they’re alien beings from another galaxy?
May 20th, 2009 at 10:53 amReid has to be given two choices….. Place the terrorists in supermax prisons on US SOIL or deport them back to where they came from. Accept the fact that Gitmo is closing and that there is no other place to transfer the gitmo detainees except placing them in US supermax prisons or step down. Reid is supporting the terrorists.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:56 amREID = TERRORIST SUPPORTER
May 20th, 2009 at 10:57 am.
Is Outhoff suggesting that terrorism isn’t a crime worth prosecuting?
REALLY?
.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:58 amINHOFE: Because those individuals who are actually criminals,
actually committed crimes and were not involved in the type of …
MY GOODNESS! This damn ‘bama from Oklahoma is just as stupid as heck! Freaking Harry Reid isn’t any better – jellyback MF.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:58 amLike Jon Stewart said last night, “These guys aren’t Warlocks.”
May 20th, 2009 at 10:59 amIntrepid Says:
REID = TERRORIST SUPPORTER
– - Reid = Incoherent Coward
May 20th, 2009 at 11:00 am.
Dear Mr. Inhoff,
If High level Security Prisons aren’t secure enough to house medium level terrorists, then how are you keeping America safe from High Level AMERICAN criminals?
.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:00 am.
Dear Mr, Inhoff,
If High Level Security Prisons are magnets for criminals, then are you suggesting that the very existence of these High Level Security Prisons are not safe for America?
.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:02 amBadmoodman Says:
Intrepid Says:
REID = TERRORIST SUPPORTER
- – Reid = Incoherent Coward
That too.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:02 am.
Sounds to me, members of Congress are AFRAID to try terrorism as a crime.
.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:03 amIt’s not just conservatives, the Democrats are piling on to this bandwagon as well. It is a sad day in America … generally.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:04 amReid = Terrorist Supporter = Incoherent Coward = AMERICA HATER.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:04 amBecause those individuals who are actually criminals, they actually committed crimes and were not involved in the type of — in the type of terrorist activity as we’ve been experiencing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ok, so if they aren’t actually, you know, criminals, why are they being detained?
Because they support a group of zealots, spouting craziness and calling for war and death and torture? If that is the case there are a whole bunch of ‘terrorists’ on national TV these days.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:06 amInhofes points:
1) “magnet for terrorists”
So we can expect a terrorist attack on Gitmo any day now?
2) “aren’t set up for military tribunals”
Military tribunals only grow in tropical climates?
3) “the rules of evidence are different in US courts”
May 20th, 2009 at 11:06 amI mean, look what happened to Ted Stevens! Despite all the evidence he got off. Imagine what a mess it would be like when there’s NO actual evidence!
I suspect Inhofe may suspect that if the detainees are brought onto US soil, there might be triggered legal rights that would apply to all those held in the US.
On the other hand, Greenwald has some cogent observations:
Hear, hear…
May 20th, 2009 at 11:08 am“the rules of evidence are different in US courts”
Yup, they actually have them and follow them. This is why the Gitmo group can’t be tried in US courts.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:08 amWhich is more dangerous to the American way of life: a terrorist incarcerated in a US prison or Inhofe in the Senate?
May 20th, 2009 at 11:11 amAnother point these people keep missing is that the vast majority of those left in Guantanamo ARE NOT TERRORISTS. They are innocent people who were sold to our government by a war lord or a neighbor, or they are people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:11 amThis is a trick question, right?
May 20th, 2009 at 11:12 amhanshiro,
May 20th, 2009 at 11:12 amThat’s the point in all this. In order to hold them in our Federal prison system, these detainees must be tries in a US Court of Law. And we all know, many of these detainees were subjected to some level of TORTURE and any evidence obtained through TORTURE is inadmissible in a court of law. So instead of arguing this point, members of Congress are attempting to CON Americans into thinking that NIBY makes sense.
Remember when we were proud that prisons like Alcatraz were regarded to be the most secure facilities in America? Since when has the penal system here in America gone soft?
I’m sure we can find places to /charge/ these people and imprison them. Dangerous criminals and terrorists are held in prisons other than Gitmo. Just don’t move all of the prisoners to one site.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:12 amPLC,
I find that those who take an Oath of Office; to support and defend the Constitution of the USA WITHOUT ANY mental reservations OR a purpose of evasion, are a bigger threat to America and Her People when they COWER from that responsibility. But, for the last decade, members of Congress have preferred to have mental reservations and postulated purposes of evasion as to why they should defend the Constitution of the USA in favor of maintaining some temporary sense of security.
.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:18 amPlease don’t feed the trolls. This Republican drone could care less about the issue at hand. It has only been sent here to deliver a mindless partisan blurb.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:19 amWhy don’t we all just bite the bullet and call these people political prisoners? And that Gitmo is the US version of a gulag?
May 20th, 2009 at 11:24 amI love how they assume everyone in there is a convicted terrorist. Our supermaxs hold prisoners that would make them cry. Wusses…
Besides, last time I checked GITO is American prison is it not? Oh but wait it has big scarwee Muslims! Oh noes!
May 20th, 2009 at 11:25 amBREAKING NEWS!!!! Inhoff still crazy. Recovery not seen as possible.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:25 amHow different is this concern than having our prisons full of gang members?
Wasn’t there a big breakout in Mexico recently the was orchestrated by fellow criminals?
Are we so helpless in our law enforcement?
May 20th, 2009 at 11:25 amI hope Obama vetoes this BS. Though unfortunetly I can see the “Obama wants terrorists in the US” crap coming from the Republicans.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:26 amReid, Inhofe = FAILTROLLS
May 20th, 2009 at 11:27 amkdgamergirl Says:
I hope Obama vetoes this BS. Though unfortunetly I can see the “Obama wants terrorists in the US” crap coming from the Republicans.
Fck the Republicans.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:29 amThank you, Sen Inhofe. Every time you speak I’m reminded that Crazy Shelly (Bachamnn) isn’t the only idiot in public office.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:32 amRiiiiight. And the detainees or “kidnapees” are just alleged terrorists and probably could never be convicted of anything. We created this monster, imprisoning and torturing people with no evidence against them because we’re scared of people who look like them.
So much for being a great country.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:32 am.
Dear Oaklahoma,
Inhoff = Outhoff the next go ’round. K?
.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:35 amPurple State Says:
Remember when we were proud that prisons like Alcatraz were regarded to be the most secure facilities in America? Since when has the penal system here in America gone soft?
I’m sure we can find places to /charge/ these people and imprison them. Dangerous criminals and terrorists are held in prisons other than Gitmo. Just don’t move all of the prisoners to one site.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:12 am Recommend (0) | Report Abuse
I don’t see why not use nowadays Alcatraz. It’s abandoned, and
During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed no prisoners as having ever successfully escaped. 36 prisoners were involved in 14 attempts, two men trying twice; Twenty-three were caught, six were shot and killed during their escape, and two drowned.[15] The most violent occurred on May 2, 1946 when a failed escape attempt by six prisoners led to the so-called Battle of Alcatraz.
And it was when surveillance methods were far worse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz
May 20th, 2009 at 11:35 amWe could give him medication for the crazy but you can’t fix stupid.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:35 amBecause those individuals who are actually criminals, they actually committed crimes and were not involved in the type of — in the type of terrorist activity as we’ve been experiencing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Haha! What a dimwit! I guess Imhofe can now add Legal Expert to his other areas of expertise like Science.
How does this guy keep getting elected?
May 20th, 2009 at 11:40 amDoesn’t anyone run against him?
Is it oil money that keeps him in office?
It doesn’t reflect well on the intelligence of the people of Oklahoma that they keep voting for this ignoramus.
Evil Spaniard Says:
I don’t see why not use nowadays Alcatraz.
Well, if they can use the Fox logic that torture can be justified with the TV show 24, then they can justify that Alcatraz is escapable by referencing Prison Break and The Rock. If Nicholas Cage can infiltrate Alcatraz…
May 20th, 2009 at 11:49 amDick Cheney is the bigger terrorist of them all, and yet he walks around free in this country.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:51 amralph the wonder locust Says:
There is no nation on Earth that has a prison system to rival ours. The US incarcerates something like one-fourth of all prisoners on the planet. More than China’s notoriously authoritarian regime.
If Inhofe and others of his ilk think terrorists cannot be secured in our prisons, WTF do they think these people are? Do they think they’re alien beings from another galaxy?
May 20th, 2009 at 10:53 am
_____________
Not to mention that we incarcerate about 1% of our own population. If there’s one thing our country is good at, it’s incarcerating people.
I think the real issue nobody wants to talk about is the fact that we need to convict them before we can incarcerate them. And we can’t convict them on evidence obtained via torture.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:52 amchiroptera toasterhead Says:
I think the real issue nobody wants to talk about is the fact that we need to convict them before we can incarcerate them. And we can’t convict them on evidence obtained via torture.
It’s not that people don’t want to talk about this. It’s that those people responsible aren’t willing to listen.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:56 amPhoto of Inhofe on CNN:
http://liberalsmustdie.com/content/binary/Boner%5B1%5D.jpg
May 20th, 2009 at 11:58 amWhat a way to show your hand.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:27 pmMax Anax junius -1 Says:
hanshiro,
That’s the point in all this. In order to hold them in our Federal prison system, these detainees must be tries in a US Court of Law.
I don’t believe that these detainees can be tried in a US court of law. They have not committed any crimes in the US, so the US courts will have no jurisdiction over them. That is the reason why we came up with military tribunals many many years ago.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:30 pmThis is ridiculous. If it were another country holding our “combatents” without due process and without an end in sight, we would bomb the hell out of them. Moreover, we have some of the most violent criminals on earth housed safely in our prisons. So the only reason we do not want them on our soil is because we would have to afford them due process, access to family and potential access to the press. In other words, we do not want anyone to know the full extent of their treatment and/or possible innocence. Shame on us!
May 20th, 2009 at 12:56 pmPlease, please, please do not judge all Oklahomans by our two idiot Senators, Inhof and Coburn. There truly are intelligent, rational people who live in our state.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:40 pmHmmm. Where did they house Tim McVeigh and Nickols? Weren’t they housed in a Fed Prison?
May 20th, 2009 at 2:00 pmAnother Republican idiot. I think we need a constitutional amendment limiting the number of idiots that can be in one party. These people exhaust a normal mind. Hollywood couldn’t create this many fools. Sometimes when I watch the cable chatter I have to check the channel to make sure I am on a “News network”. Republicans—it is over…let me say it a little slower , it is o-v-e-r!
May 20th, 2009 at 2:07 pmAll this is double talk.
May 20th, 2009 at 2:37 pmthe genius senator misses the next logical step in his thinking. We try “criminals” in the court system…and look where they are now, in high-security prisons. Under Clinton, we caught the WTC bombers and tried them in our courts, right?
May 20th, 2009 at 4:08 pmLast meme standing—they “kept us safe” by torturing these captives for “actionable” intelligence. Bring it on. Give these guys some good lawyers and televise the trials.
May 20th, 2009 at 4:38 pmInhofe is extremely proud of his ignorance and wastes no opportunity to display it.
Actually the world’s worst and deadliest terrorist masterminds are headquartered in Washington, DC, and Inhofe is among them.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:50 pm