U.S. Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, Terrorists, Closing Gitmo
Gitmo Montana to become Canada’s headache?
By Judi McLeod Friday, April 24, 2009U.S. Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, who first suggested and then apologized for saying that the 9/11 terrorists entered the U.S. through Canada, should be closely watching proceedings in Hardin, Montana.
The people of Hardin are fixing to get a contract to hold the prisoners of Guantanamo on home turf.
Never mind that Montana forms part of the U.S-Canadian border--the longest unprotected stretch anywhere in the world.
Gitmo escapees, used to desolate turf in Afghanistan and Iraq, could make their way to Canada and fade into Canadian society.
Canada would then be the unwitting home to prisoners linked to the very terrorists Napolitano said crossed into the USA to cause 9/11 carnage in New York and Washington!
What would then stop the escapees from crossing back into the USA from Canada?
“No, no, no, not here!” some Hardin residents--already being accused of NIMBY (Not in MY Backyard status)--shouted when they heard the news. The same shout of resistance can be expected from the closest-to-the-border residents of Alberta and Saskatchewan once they learn that the new Guantanamo is coming their way soon from Hardin, Mt.
Guantanamo, Hardin style, was hatched in botched-up officialdom. Finished construction in July 2007, the facility was heading down the well-trodden White Elephant Road, when the state had no prisoners to send there.
This is how the Billings Gazette’s Becky Shay describes the countdown to the present:
“President Barack Obama signed an executive order Jan. 22 to close the Guantanamo detention facilities in Cuba where hundreds of enemy combatants have been held since 2002. The closure is to occur in a year, during which time remaining detainees must be returned to their home countries or detained elsewhere.
“Meanwhile, a 460-bed detention facility sits empty in Hardin. Built by the Two Rivers Authority, the city’s economic development arm, the facility was meant to bring economic development to Hardin by creating more than 100 high-paying jobs.
“While leaders continue to look for contracts to open the jail, which was completed in 2007, people in Hardin have approached Two Rivers executive director Greg Smith saying they have the answer: Get the contract to hold those prisoners from Guantanamo.”
Not only has Smith been in touch with other possible players, including federal agencies and staffs of the Montana congressional delegation, Hardin City Council is gung-ho to bring the hundreds of “enemy combatants” to their home city.
Council voted Tuesday to “fully support” the move.
This is what the Two Rivers Detention Center can offer detainees: They would be the only prisoners in the facility, it would be easy to accommodate prisoners’ “dietary, language and religious requirements”.
“If someone were to escape, Smith said, there aren’t any huge buildings nearby to dodge into. Montana is pretty homogenous, so detainees, many of Middle Eastern descent, would not easily blend into crowds, he said.”
It’s not the huge buildings that can be dodged into, but the long stretch of desolate land between the U.S. and Canada border that will keep some folk up nights.
Smith sees offering a turnkey facility as practically, “a patriotic duty”.
“We’re offering our president an option,” he said. ‘If he wants it, we have it available. We want to step forward and say, ‘Mr. President, we have a solution. How can we make it happen?’”
The Big O’s solution could be Canada’s worst nightmare.
Patriotic duty notwithstanding, Canadians close to the Montana border should be able to sleep without nightmares of the same monsters Janet Napolitano says crossed to the U.S. through their country.
Not to mention the brisk trade that would come from Canada’s left-wing saviours of all things terrorist, including alleged U.S. soldier killer Omar Khadr.
Over to you Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Copyright © Canada Free Press
Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and Glenn Beck.
Judi can be emailed at:
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