Dems Have Set Themselves Up for Gitmo Criticism

The GOP is finally showing some gumption and fighting back on the issue of closing Gitmo:

U.S. lawmakers traded jabs Saturday over President Obama's plan to close the Guantanamo detention center, with Republicans calling the plan "dangerous" and Democrats saying it would restore America's moral standing in the world.

Obama has pledged to close the detention center for terrorist suspects by January, but the White House has yet to say where the 241 detainees will be sent.

Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, delivering the Republicans' weekly radio and Internet address, said Saturday that Obama's plan "is a dangerous case of putting symbolism over security," and he called on the president to disclose where the terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent.

"The American people have a right to know exactly what the White House plans to do with these terrorists," said Bond, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Americans don't want these terrorists in their neighborhood."

Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., told FOX News that Obama should keep the prison open.

"These are very dangerous people," he said. "I think the president is caving into world opinion and he's attempting to fulfill a campaign pledge without having any real idea what the consequences are or where these detainees are going to go."

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., countered the Republican criticisms in an opinion article Saturday in the Washington Post. Moran noted that both Obama and Sen. John McCain pledged on the presidential campaign trail last year to close the prison because they realized detaining suspects indefinitely had damaged America's reputation around the world and fueled "terrorist recruitment and anti-American sentiment."

"While closing Guantanamo would go a long way toward removing this stain on our national character, the decision to do so was the easy part," he wrote. "What to do with the detainees who remain of the more than 700 sent there since 2001 is much more difficult."

It is true that McCain said he wanted to close Gitmo, but that's a weak comeback on the part of the Dems. McCain was wrong too and was trying to appeal to the great unwashed middle who he thought cared about that stuff.

Americans are coming to the reality that while closing Gitmo might make them feel all warm and fuzzy and make the whole world sing, there's a collection of animals in that place that they don't want in their communities. Gitmo was demonized by the press and the left, but in fact is an extremely secure, well run place, and the perfect spot for the terrorists.

Closing Gitmo just to "return our moral standing in the world" would be stupid if there's no better place to put these guys.