Sen. Sam Brownback said local residents are used to having prisons in their community. But Fort Leavenworth is not the right place to transfer terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay.
“This physically and legally does not work,” he said.
Brownback, a Kansas Republican, has repeatedly argued against suggestions of relocating people designated as enemy combatants from a detention facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.
He cited reasons for his opposition during a news conference Thursday in Leavenworth. He was joined by U.S. Rep.-elect Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan.
Also during the news conference, Leavenworth Mayor Lisa Weakley read a statement of opposition to moving about 250 detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Fort Leavenworth. Lansing Mayor Kenneth Bernard also said he is opposed to the idea.
Other officials, including representatives of the Leavenworth-Lansing Area Chamber of Commerce, the Leavenworth County Development Corporation and the Leavenworth public schools, prepared statements arguing against bringing the detainees to Fort Leavenworth.
Brownback said there is unanimity among local officials.
“They don’t want this to happen here,” he said.
Brownback encouraged representatives of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team to visit Fort Leavenworth.
Brownback said existing law will not allow the U.S. military inmates at the USDB to be housed with the detainees from Guantanamo Bay.
Even if U.S. military inmates are moved out of the USDB, the facility still would not be suited for housing the enemy combatants, Brownback argued.
He said the fort as a whole is not equipped to handle the detainee population.
He discussed the fort’s perimeter, which includes the Missouri River on one side. He also noted that railroad tracks run through the installation.
“This is not a situation you’re going to get security in and around,” he said.
Brownback said Fort Leavenworth doesn’t have a 24-hour hospital, and the detainees would have to be transported through Leavenworth to get emergency treatment.
Brownback said the post doesn’t have the space for housing for the hundreds of additional personnel that would be needed.
“The primary mission of Fort Leavenworth is soldier education,” he said.
If the detainees are transferred to Fort Leavenworth, they would be in close proximity to military students and their families, Brownback said.
He said other countries have raised objections to U.S. detainee policies. He said some countries might refuse to send officers to study at the fort’s Command and General Staff College if detainees are housed at the USDB.
Jenkins said having the detainees at Fort Leavenworth would make the post a target for groups such as al-Qaida.
When answering questions from reporters, Brownback said he would leave the issue of whether the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay should stay open to the Obama administration. Brownback said he knows the current administration has wrestled with closing the facility for some time.
If the detainees are relocated, they should be placed in a facility located on a large piece of land that is away from a population center, Brownback said.
The senator followed Thursday’s news conference with a tour at Fort Leavenworth.
Leavenworth, Kan. —
