IL GOP tones down rhetoric on Gitmo

Illinois’ Republican congressional delegation attempted to tone down their rhetoric today over housing detainees from Guantanamo Bay at a state prison by issuing a series of questions to Gov. Pat Quinn.
“As we move forward with a dignified and precise discussion regarding the cost, security and legal issues...,” the delegation’s letter begins.
The letter is in stark contrast to one the delegation sent to President Barack Obama over the weekend that raised the specter of such a move inviting a local terrorist attack.
“If your Administration brings al-Qaida terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago Metropolitan Area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization,” the first letter read. “As home to America’s tallest building and leading defense suppliers, we should not invite al-Qaida to make Illinois its number one target.”
The rhetoric, penned by U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Highland Park Republican running for U.S. Senate, drew sharp criticism from editorial boards across the state. Meanwhile, Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, seized on the attacks as fear mongering as they sold the deal in a series of news conferences around northern Illinois.
In the most recent letter, the delegation posses a series of questions about how the detainees will face trial, where prisoners will be treated for medical emergencies and whether the Thomson area has the schools to support an expected influx of soldiers needed to guard the inmates.
“We ask that you consider these issues which must in any case be resolved if this plan moves forward,” the letter reads.
Quinn spokesman Bob Reed said the governor “appreciates” receiving the letter and will review it closely.
Obama is eying the near-vacant Thomson prison to house detainees as he tries to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay facility.
Durbin and Quinn are pushing the plan as a way to bring jobs to Thomson, which sits off the Mississippi River. As part of the deal, the federal government would buy the prison and also separately house more than a thousand regular inmates at the $145 million facility, which state officials say they can’t afford to staff themselves.
Any deal would have to be put to Congress for a vote as part of an overall package to close the Cuba facility. House Republicans have vowed to fight the looming proposal.
Illinois’ GOP delegation includes U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert of Hinsdale, U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton and U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo of the Rockford area.