COMMENTARY: Let Gitmo Be Gitmo

The National Review editor and conservative Republican argues that emptying Gitmo would be dangerous: "The U.S. government is preparing to return 68 percent of enemy fighters from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to their home countries, primarily Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Fraught with shortcomings, this risky scheme reeks of capitulation to Bushophobes. Politically, this decision bolsters the 'Gitmo=Dachau' position. Unable to face the brickbats of left-wing journalists and activists here and abroad, the administration seems to be lobbing this hot potato halfway around the planet. Politics aside, this tactic potentially threatens U.S. safety. Thankfully, Guantanamo is incredibly secure. This Navy base overflows with well-armed guards and well-trained GIs. Any al Qaeda assassin who slithered from his cell soon would be neutralized. If he happened to reach the compound's periphery, he would be greeted by barbed wire and watchtowers. If he snuck through, he could swim to freedom. Haiti is about 100 miles southeast across the shark-choked Windward Passage. Good luck. Because they are not surrounded by water, Afghan, Saudi, and Yemeni prisons cannot be as impregnable as Guantanamo. Since they are accessible by land in countries rife with Islamo-fascists, don't be surprised if al Qaeda troops attempt to liberate their jailed colleagues so that they can resume the hard work of mass murder. The victimized government would surely fret with ours about what these un-caged beasts might do next. Even a failed jailbreak likely would find allied and even U.S. soldiers in the crossfire.....Even from a human-rights standpoint, those who bellyached about Gitmo's raw, naked cruelty now balk at exporting its detainees. As nasty as 'Bush's dungeon' supposedly is, these critics now concede that any Afghan, Saudi, or Yemeni hoosegow is unlikely to be as comfortable for bin Laden's boys as our facility on a breeze-swept Caribbean island."