Extremist of the Day

On a recent broadcast of the conservative "The Mike Gallagher Show", Rep. Steven King (R-IA) provided his ridiculous views concerning President Obama's plans to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay by the end of the year: "Let’s just say that, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, is brought to the United States to be tried in a federal court in the United States under a federal judge, and we know what some of those judges do, and on a technicality, such as, let’s just say he wasn’t read his Miranda rights...He is released into the streets of America, walks over and steps up into a U.S. embassy and applies for asylum for fear he can’t go back home because he spilled the beans on al-Qaeda. What happens then if another judge grants him asylum in the United States and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is on a path to citizenship?"

The scary thing about King's statements is that I have heard normal, everyday Americans utter even more extreme comments. In fact, some individuals have actually expressed their concerns that, when the Guantanamo Bay prison closes, Mohammed would be automatically released into public life. That would be akin to Timothy McVeigh, the American who killed 168 of his fellow Americans in Oklahoma City, being allowed to simply walk free in the United States if the federal penitentiary in which he was being held had been closed before he was executed. Of course, anyone with an eighth of a brain should realize that Mohammed would not be granted the ability to do so. At the same time, the opponents of President Obama would be unable to cite a specific example of when someone responsible for as many deaths as Mohammed or McVeigh was released from an American prison. With that being said, it is important to remember that, in an older posting, I documented the fact that the Bush administration's actions violated the 106-year-old Cuban-American Treaty. The treaty limits the use of Guantanamo Bay to "coaling or naval stations only, and for no other purpose", which obviously does not permit the various detainment and torture operations conducted by the Bush administration. Furthermore, the treaty also prohibits any individual, partnership, or corporation from establishing "a commercial, industrial or other enterprise" within Guantanamo Bay. However, the U.S. military base contains a McDonald's restaurant, two Starbucks outlets, a Subway restaurant and other American concessions.