Associated Press:
In an escalation of arguments over closing a prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, a top Pentagon official says members of Congress must rethink their opposition to accepting these detainees into the United States.
Michele Flournoy is President Barack Obama's new Pentagon policy chief. She says members of Congress need to remember that closing the stigmatized prison in Cuba will mean hard choices for everyone. She spoke after Senate Democrats said they won't pay for closure until the administration delivers a satisfactory plan for what to do with the detainees.
Flournoy says it's unrealistic to believe that no detainees will be sent to the US and points out the hypocrisy of asking other nations to take them while refusing to do it ourselves. According to the report, "Without singling anyone out, Flournoy said lawmakers need to think more 'strategically.'"
And rationally. The right has trained everyone to wet their pants anytime anyone mentions terrorism -- it's time to call that out as cowardice. These detainees aren't magic, they're just people -- some of them are probably even innocent.
Seriously, we can handle this.
