NIMBY: Terrorist Edition

Here in Colorado, the Republicans -- who were virtually in lockstep with President Bush regarding the potentially unlawful detention of suspected terrorists at Camps Delta, Iquana and X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay -- are now screaming "not in my backyard" over the possibility of these detainees being transferred to ADX Florence, informally known as Colorado's "Supermax" facility.
For all their noise, I have yet to hear a rational reason to not do this.
They could argue that the prisoners should all be housed in one facility; currently, ADX Florence has a capacity of 490 and a prisoner population of about 463. A few dozen of the 200 to 300 Gitmo prisoners could be sent to Florence. But is that a good enough reason for Florence to not do its part in making sure these suspected terrorists aren't returned to the Middle East during a time of war?
Instead, the reasons mentioned are neglectful of the facts and usually populist jokes:

• "Let's stick them in Alcatraz so it can be Nancy Pelosi's problem." <-- Spending more than $1 million to return Alcatraz to an operational state just for this one-time purpose doesn't make sense to me when we have current infrastructure and resources in our federal peniteniaries nationwide. But I'm taking this too seriously; it's just a quick jab for people to post on message boards and blast on talk radio, part of the labeling of Obama, Reid and Pelosi as some "unholy trinity."
• "Why are we bringing terrorists to our state?" <-- No one seemed to raise a fit when al-Qaida bomber Abdul Hakim Ali Hashim Murad came to Florence. The same goes for World Trade Center bomber Ahmed Mohammad Ajaj. Or Ahmed Omar Abu Ali. Or Clement Rodney Hampton-El (a.k.a. Dr. Rashid). Or El Sayyid Nosair. Or Eric Rudolph. Or Eyad Ismail. Or James Ujaama. Or John Walker Lindh. Or Jose Padilla. Or Mohammed A. Salameh. Or Mohammed Ali Hassan Al-Moayad. Or Mohammed Odeh. Or Omar Abdel-Rahman. Or Ramzi Yousef. Or would-be "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. Or "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski. Or the late Timothy McVeigh. Or Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.
• "Putting them all together would taint the other prisoners, turning them against America." <-- The 23-hour confinement policy, along with the solitary workout program at ADX Florence, has been well documented. These prisoners do not have contact with each other. Their only human contact whatsoever is with prison employees (guards, etc.). Even if they were exposed to the other prisoners, is there any guarantee that the likes of Terry Nichols, Matthew Hale and Robert Hanssen would become pals with former al-Qaida members? And supposing that, how do they lead a coordinated attack on the guards when the security measured used at Supermax have been demonstrated to work as well as or better than any other federal prison facility in the country?
• "Colorado will become a target for terrorists." <-- I would like to introduce as evidence the list of terrorist attacks on Guantanamo Bay's detention center due to its housing of al-Qaida and other terror suspects. Wait.... what? You mean there isn't a list because there's never been a terrorist attack on Guantanamo Bay since terror suspects have been detained there? Well, guess we can close the case on this one.
• "US prisons = US trials. The standards for conviction are too high under our current laws; a lot of these prisoners could go free." <-- If we don't have a case against them under our laws, we have done what our society has deemed is right and just. If we do have a case against them, the long list of current Florence inmates proves that convictions are not only possible outside of military tribunal, but the public scrutiny of the cases forces prosecution to present the fullest, clearest case against these people.

Throw in a couple of reference to "President-Mullah Hussein B. Obama" and you'll have the basic GOP talking points on this matter.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not convinced Guantanamo Bay's detention facilities required closing in the first place. Certainly a number of misdeeds were perpetrated there by officials acting on behalf of the Bush administration, but is that not also true of most branches of the federal government? Should we close the Department of Education because of No Child Left Behind? No, but the new administration can reform it so it can perform its proper duties.
But President Obama has made up his mind, fulfilling his campaign promise to close Gitmo's detention camps. It may not have been the best decision, but it's not a terrible decision. It may cost the government money to plan for and conduct the relocation of these detainees, but it starts us on the road toward increasing our reputation as a nation of rights, the rule of law and morally just leadership.