WichitaFallsComplete.com



12-17-2009

So they're thinking of moving the captive terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Thomson, Illinois. That works for me. Thomson is just up the road from the town of Savanna, home of the Savanna Army Depot Activity. The identifier "Activity" was added after the post was, for all practical purposes, closed down. I was stationed there in 1975 and was present when load after load of nuclear warheads were moved out by helicopter.

There's nothing like sitting in a Shithook, I'm mean a Chinook helicopter, next to a warhead or two, and watching the crew chief constantly opening cans of hydraulic fluid and adding it to appropriate reservoirs.

Back to Thomson, Illinois. It looks like the government is going to purchase the Thomson Correctional facility, which never completely opened and is nowhere near capacity.

The article concerning this move mentioned the fact that some of the federal prisoners that will be moved to Thomson are being held indefinitely and without trial. If this doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should.

Oh, but they're terrorists, you say. Fine. If we have sufficient evidence to support this charge, then let's burn them to a crisp. But, what is to keep your government from taking you into custody because someone engineered some type of evidence indicating that you are somehow involved with these people? Once you're in custody under this program, you're screwed! You have no right to an attorney. You have no right to a trial. You'll be released if and when your government says you'll be released. This is straight out of the Twilight Zone!

This is like the government saying "we're not able to gather enough evidence to hold these people under our current laws, so let's enact a law that says we don't have to have any evidence".

If the government has sufficient evidence to charge people as terrorists, what court would refuse to have them held for trial? And if the government cannot find sufficient evidence, then why would they continue to hold anyone, be it on charges of terrorism, or jaywalking on Pennsylvania Avenue?

I'm all for terrorists being incarcerated for life, or worse, but what's wrong with a little due process? Don't forget, the next time it could be you or me!

Maynard