TERROR

Obama's Guantánamo Solution

Detainees would move to U.S. prison.

Congressmen who proclaimed “not in my backyard” during the debate over where to house terror detainees once the Guantánamo facility is shuttered are in for an unpleasant surprise. The Obama administration is “looking at creating a courtroom-within-a-prison complex in the U.S. to house suspected terrorists,” the Associated Press reports. A state prison in Michigan and the 134-year-old military penitentiary in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas are both possible locations for the site, which would hold the 229 suspected terrorists from Guantánamo prison. "The administration is going to face a severe public backlash unless it shelves this plan and goes back to the drawing board," said the spokesman for Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). Congress shot down the White House’s $80 million request to bring detainees home earlier this year, citing safety concerns. Since the courtroom would be inside the prison, the estimated 80 detainees who can be prosecuted would not have to be transported out of the facility for trial. A host of legal questions surrounds the proposal, such as how the courts will select juries and how the White House will get around jurisdiction laws in moving the prisoners.