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GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES SPAR OVER GITMO DETAINEES
Democrat gubernatorial candidate Mullins McLeod did not mince words Wednesday in responding to Congressman Gresham Barrett’s request that he sign a letter to President Barack Obama demanding that suspected terrorists be kept out of South Carolina.
“With all due respect, I’d request that you take your letter and shove it,” McLeod wrote Barrett.
Wow.
Barrett has asked all candidates for South Carolina governor to sign the letter to Obama.
“In times of war, our duty as Americans is to pull together and do our part to secure victory,” McLeod wrote. “No one wants suspected terrorists on our soil while they await their richly-deserved punishment. But when the President asks us to do our part in the international war on terrorism, the only appropriate response from this or any state’s Governor is ‘Yes Sir, Mr. President.’”
Attorney General Henry McMaster said Tuesday that he would sign the letter, but that he thought Barrett, as a member of Congress, could better serve South Carolina by working with his fellow lawmakers to tackle the problem.
McLeod, however, was much more blunt about Barrett’s letter.
“Frankly, I am surprised that you would choose to play politics rather than support our war effort,” wrote McLeod.
You can read McLeod’s entire letter by clicking here.
Who’s playing politics? Looks like Barrett is the only candidate actually doing something to protect our state from terrorists.
For Immediate Release
November 04, 2009
Contact: Emily Tyner Press Secretary 202-225-5301
DEMINT, BARRETT, BROWN AND WILSON URGE PRESIDENT OBAMA TO REMOVE SOUTH CAROLINA FROM CONSIDERATION AS NEW HOME FOR GITMO TERRORISTS
WASHINGTON, DC—Yesterday, Congressman J. Gresham Barrett (SC-03) sent a letter to President Obama urging him to develop a detention process that would keep Guantanamo Bay detainees from entering the United States under any circumstances. Senator Jim DeMint, Congressman Henry E. Brown (SC-01) and Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02) joined Congressman Barrett in signing the letter to President Obama. The full text of the letter is included below.
Dear Mr. President:
We, the undersigned, strongly oppose the transfer of any detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to United States soil to include any state or federal facility in the State of South Carolina, including the Naval Consolidated Brig in North Charleston.
The terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay present a serious threat to the safety and security of the American people. Transferring any of these detainees to the United States will make our nation’s citizens a greater target for terrorism. Any such move is irresponsible, ill-advised, and we will oppose it vigorously.
Therefore, we respectfully urge you to develop a detention process that keeps these known terrorists off of United States soil and out of South Carolina. Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Jim DeMint
Member of Congress
J. Gresham Barrett
Member of Congress
Henry E. Brown
Member of Congress
Joe Wilson
Member of Congress
###
Bravo Mr. McLeod!
You cannot fight a war and then object when it comes time to do your part.
I like McLeod’s candor and bluntness. We need more leaders like him.
Shame on Rep. Barrett and others for playing politics on this issue.
[...] 11/04/2009: McLeod to Barrett: ‘Take your letter and shove it’ [...]
Only in South Carolina, which has marginalized itself to irrelevancy in national politics, alienated from the ruling party and taken for granted by the opposition, would anyone believe that most people in DC still care. J. Gresham Barrett, hated by teabaggers and opposed to the administration hasn’t got anybody;; Henry E. Brown, opposed, irrelevant, asleep, again; Joe Wilson, you lie! and Jim Demint, Waterloo, Break him, more teabaggers.
This is actually quite risky. They’re drawing fire. Great for the base, but an excellent way to order up even more prisoners. We have no idea how many prisoners the CIA and Army have in storage in the Third World, not just Gitmo. Trash has to go somewhere. We could end up getting large amounts of it here, just not in Clyburn’s district.
Remember it’s cheaper to dump prisoners in South Carolina than about anywhere else in terms of its political cost. If they’ve got to write off a state, we would be that state.
Frankly, I am surprised that you would choose to play politics rather than support our war effort. After all,
you were in the South Carolina Legislature when President Bush sent infamous terrorist suspect Jose
Padilla (a.k.a Abdullah al-Muhajir) to the Naval Brig in North Charleston — and I don’t recall you
objecting then.
The above statement taken verbatim from the letter written by Mullins McLeod [ is he related to the bumbler at the Employment Security Commission by that same name ?] shows how not only rude he is but it shows how ignorant on the issue he is as well. One prisoner Jose Padillia was an American citizen as I recall and we were better able to control information coming out of him so it was to our advantage to keep him here. To bring several hundred foreign jihad terrorist and Islamic terrorist here as well is crazy. The State of South Carolina can’t keep the run of the mill prisoner confined at times so how much worse it would be to have these Islamic Muslim Terrorist here is not a given but the fact that it would be a disaster is a given.
In closing… the fact is you show further ignorance to claim we are fighting a war on ‘terrorism’ – the fact is we are fighting a war on ‘Islamic Terrorist’ and Islamic Jihadi Terrorism’ – just so you know Mullins McLeod.. not all Jihad goes ‘BOOM’ and people like you Sir ‘with all due respect’ are just useful idiots to the Islamist in American and around the world.
There are some really great folks in this state. However, they are overshadowed by the mentalities of numerous others who are still living in the 19th Century.
As for SC government, they continue to make SC a laughing stock.
Aside from that, what day of the week would any Middle Eastern country, or any other, spend so much money and time on U.S. detainees? They wouldn’t. They would simply kill them, innocent or not, or release them & send them home.
Furthermore, why do we give businesses to foreigners, many of whose countries’ we are at war with, & not require them to pay taxes for a period of time (when that time is up, the business is handed over to another family member)? I live in Chesterfield County and in Cheraw only 1 of 4 hotels are American-owned. The only hotel in the town of Chesterfiled is foreign-owned.
ULTIMATELY, WHY IS OUR GOVERNMENT SELLING OUT OUR COUNTRY TO THE REST OF THE WORLD? IS IT TRUE THAT SAUDI ARABIA FLAT-OUT OWNS 7% OF AMERICA?
What day of the week can Americans, by the millions, go to other countries & have a business given to them?
Our government is concerned over terrorist detainees while we have a prison population of over 6 million in the U.S.?
If things don’t change, & soon, not Obama change, but American citizens standing up and saying “no more”, freedom as we know it will be a thing of the past.
I’m not promoting racism, cultural egocentricity, or any of the sort, but Americans need to work. We need a land we can indeed call ours that is not pimped out to the rest of the world. The melting pot idea of America is great but we’ve got to draw the line somewhere regarding immigrants coming to this country. There is soon going to be nothing left for Americans.
We also need to let our government know that we will not support foreign wars for the special interests of our political leaders, ie the Bushs’ wars for oil. Neither do we need to police the world. If we don’t stop doing that, we may soon know what it’s like to have a foreign army patrolling our towns & cities. We should only intervene in other countries if it is a threat to the U.S. Aiding other countries after national disasters should be done, America may have to ask a neighbor for help sometime.
This state is in dire need of drastic change. So is this country. I hope it happens soon.
It seems that most people are missing an important fact, including Barret and Mcleod. Gitmo was specifically designed for the purpose it is serving. Local brigs and courts are not design for anything more than judging and/or dissmissing servicemen. Most of whose threat on society is minimal. It’s like storing a hearty, hot stew in a non-sealing sandwich bag.