Pelosi Cites ‘Economic Opportunity’ as Reason To Transfer Gitmo Detainees

‘The people in Illinois were looking forward to having some people transferred there ... they saw it as economic opportunity, as you may recall’

Pelosi Promotes Transfer of Gitmo Detainees to US Soil, Citing ‘Economic Opportunity’ (The Washington Free Beacon)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Tuesday that Illinois residents would welcome the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to their state because of the “economic opportunity” their detention would provide.


“The people in Illinois were looking forward to having some people transferred there -- they saw it as economic opportunity, as you may recall,” Pelosi said during her weekly press conference.

Democrats have been working to help President Obama fulfill his pledge to close the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The military has been told to speed up its review of the prison’s 114 detainees so they can be transferred elsewhere.

The U.S. classifies Guantanamo Bay detainees as enemy combatants. Democrats have long objected to the treatment of these detainees, many of whom have not been tried in U.S. criminal court. Instead, detainees are usually tried before separate military commissions, although some are held without charge under the authority of the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed by Congress following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

 

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