WASHINGTON -- Virginia Republicans today called on Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to join them in opposing the incarceration in Virginia of any prisoners now held at Guantanamo Bay.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order Jan. 22 ordering the Pentagon's detention facility in Cuba to be closed within a year. The White House has not yet outlined how it wants to handle the facility's 250 prisoners.
"There are so many unanswered questions," said Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, in a conference call with reporters and fellow Reps. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, and J. Randy Forbes, R-4th.
The Republicans raised fears that the presence of detainees could make domestic jails targets of international terrorists and create local security risks in cases of escape. The lawmakers also were concerned that terrorists would try to recruit gang members.
"We simply aren't willing to take those risks," said Forbes, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He introduced a bill to prohibit federal funds from being used to imprison detainees from Guantanamo at any prison or military base in Virginia.
A spokesman for Kaine said the Republicans were jumping the gun, because the White House has not released its final report on Guantanamo.
"It is premature to discuss where prisoners might or might not go," said Gordon Hickey, the spokesman. "The governor has every confidence in the ability of the Marines and the Navy to handle whatever comes their way."
The Virginia Republicans pointed to a list of military facilities -- including those in Norfolk and Quantico -- that were listed in 2007 as having available detention space.
But analysts said the detainees could end up in a non-military federal prison and said it's unlikely all would stay together.
"Nobody is talking about wholesale moving from Guantanamo Bay to any one facility in the United States, so we shouldn't concern ourselves with that prospect," said Ken Gude, national security analyst at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.
It would not be the first time Virginia has housed suspected terrorists. Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker in the September 11th attacks, was held in Alexandria for three years during his federal trial there. He's now serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Florence, Colo.
Contact Neil H. Simon at (202) 662-7669 or nsimon@mediageneral.com.
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