PENTAGON DENIES REPORTS THAT GITMO DETAINEES HEADED TO N. CHARLESTON

The Pentagon flat out denies it, but reports surfaced Friday that up to 10 suspected terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba could be headed to South Carolina.

Government officials have been eying the Naval Brig in North Charleston as a possible site to move the detainees after President Obama ordered the Guantanamo facility closed by January 2010.

But Defense Department officials denied the reports Friday that they had made a final decision and that the White House must first choose how to handle the detainee’s legal cases.

“We’re still looking at facilities,” said Maj. Tanya Bradsher, a Department of Detainee Affairs press officer, noting that a decision was not likely imminent. “We hope to have that in a few weeks.”

The possibility of such a move, however, had South Carolina officials up in arms.

“South Carolina will do everything in our power to protect the public, but the bottom line is that the President should not be allowing these terrorists onto American soil,” said State House Speaker Bobby Harrell (R-Charleston).

Harrell’s fellow Republicans issued a similar plea to the White House.

“Whether today’s reports are confirmed or just rumor, it is completely unacceptable to move a single terrorist to our soil,” said Majority Leader Kenny Bingham (R-Lexington). “The House Republican Caucus steadfastly opposes any such move and we will do everything we possibly can to block any terrorists from coming to our communities.

Bingham called on the state’s elected officials in Washington to put pressure on Obama to keep suspected terrorists out of South Carolina.

Congressman Henry Brown, who represents the area in which the Naval Brig is located, said the news was “extremely unsettling” and said the Obama Administration was making a hasty decision.

“Actions like these should not be taking place without a careful, detailed and smart plan of how to deal with some of the most violent terrorists ever held at Guantanamo,” Brown said. “I vow to closely monitor this breaking news as more information becomes available, but I remain very passionate about making sure that the Administration’s desire to bring these enemy combatants to the Naval Brig does not come to fruition.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham and other federal lawmakers have introduced legislation that would keep enemy combatants off U.S. soil.

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