Grassley Gets the Numbers Wrong on Guantanamo

February 25, 2010  |  Posted by Danielle Belton

Sen. Chuck Grassley says he wants to save the taxpayers money by not prosecuting terrorists in civilian courts. Strange. I didn't know the prison at Guantanamo Bay and military commissions were paid for in Monopoly money?

Said Grassley in his latest letter to President Obama:

“Given the current fiscal constraints facing the federal government, the President could help the American people’s anxiety with many of his budget and national security decisions by holding the trials by military commission at the existing facilities built at Guantanamo Bay and saving half a billion dollars,” Grassley said. “To spend our taxpayer dollars to defend these terrorists in our courts is a slap in the face to the American people.”

Nice try. Maybe Grassley doesn't realize that the prison at Guantanamo Bay has operating costs from an estimated $90 to $118 million. The prison the White House is eyeing to hold detainees in Thomson, Ill. would cost between $40 and $50 million to operate annually.

Once again the debate over closing Guantanamo is being glossed over by nonsensical arguments about paying for defense attorneys. We already pay for the defense of Guantanamo Bay detainees. This is a shadow argument meant to obscure the fact that Gitmo has been nothing but a legal nightmare for the United States. The prison is tainted by torture and its legacy of holding prisoners indefinitely without charge. And Military Commissions have always been flawed as they are purely political by nature. Despite the fact that our legal system has traditionally dealt with terrorists and done fantastic work prosecuting and sentencing them, an extrajudicial structure was created. The result was a system that has been challenged numerous times on its legality, leading to many Supreme Court rulings finding that military commission trials were NOT legal. While our government continues to fiddle around with these trials, attempting to make them "more" legal, we're ignoring the fact that we already have the best tool possible to prosecute terrorists and it's right here, in the United States, and it's called our system of justice. It's called our criminal courts.

Why, just this Monday, the 73rd terrorist with al Qaeda ties was prosecuted in a New York court! As I wrote then:

"Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty Monday to plotting to bomb the New York Subway system. He was never held in Guantanamo Bay. He was held in U.S. custody. He wasn't tried by military commission. He was tried in a U.S. court. And his trial was held in New York City, the same city he plotted his attack. He has offered to give up his contacts. He is giving up intelligence. And all this happened following the rule of law. How much more proof do people need that the right wing argument against criminal trials for terrorists is a purely political one? It's not grounded in any facts or logic or sound reasoning. It's just about creating a wedge issue to drive people apart and win votes in the fall."

Let's use the justice we have, Sen. Grassley. The justice that works -- our criminal courts. Let's spread misinformation about Gitmo and criminal trials on the grounds of cost efficiency.

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