WASHINGTON--On an overwhelming 90-6 roll call, the Senate balked Wednesday on funding for a key pledge of President Obama--closing down the military prison holding alleged terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Illinois senators split on the contentious issue, fueling debate over whether U.S. communities will accept the detainees at local prisons.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was one of the six Senators backing Obama's cornerstone campaign pledge. Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) voted with the majority.
Arguing for the $80 million for the prisoner transfer--out of $91.3 billion Defense supplemental spending, Durbin said U.S. corrections personnel already handle dangerous prisoners "every single day."
"The reality is that we're holding some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world right now in our federal prisons," Durbin said from the Senate floor.
Burris told me after the vote he thought high security facilities--such as the federal maximum security prison in Marion, Ill. could safely hold the detainees.
THE SENATE SIX
The question: "To prohibit funding to transfer, release, or incarcerate detainees detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to or within the United States."
Durbin (D-IL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Reed (D-RI)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Not Voting - 3
Byrd (D-WV)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Lynn Sweet is a columnist and the Washington Bureau Chief for the 
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I really can't see how torture will help our image abroad and decrease security threats. I think that the US should pursue a strategy with more soft power including more efficient foreign aid. This will encourage people in less-than-stable areas to be productive instead of radicals, it will increase security, and it will alleviate needless suffering. The Borgen Project has good info on the estimated cost of ending global poverty:
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget.
I really can't see how torture will help our image abroad and decrease security threats. I think that the US should pursue a strategy with more soft power including more efficient foreign aid. This will encourage people in less-than-stable areas to be productive instead of radicals, it will increase security, and it will alleviate needless suffering. The Borgen Project has good info on the estimated cost of ending global poverty:
$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget.
MAYBE WE SHOULD HAVE SENT TIM MCVEIGH TO GITMO
AS WELL, SEE HOW SILLY THAT SOUNDS, WE KNOW FOR
A FACT THIS MAN BLEW UP A BUILDING, AND WE KEPT
HIM AMERICA, SO ALL OF THOSE EXCUSES ABOUT KEEPING
THEM IN AMERICA IS FULL OF MORE HOLES THAN SWISS
CHEESE!
I HAVEN'T HEARD OF ANY PRISON BREAKS LATELY, HAVE
YOU?
GITMO MUST GO AND HANNITY,CHENEY, GINGRICH, AND
ROVE SHOULD GO AS WELL!
BIGMOUTHS AND DRAFT DODGERS!
DICK CHENEY SHOULD WRITE A BOOK, HOW I GOT OUT
OF SERVING IN THE MILITARY, BY TAKING MORE
DEFERMENTS THAN ANYBODY IN THE HISTORY OF THE
UNITED STATES, HEY DICK DID YOU FIND THE WEAPONS
OF MASS DESTRUCTION YET?
HE RARELY SPOKE AS VP AND NOW HE IS OUT OF OFFICE
AND HE WANTS TO BE HANNITY, RUSH, ROVE, AND
THE REST OF THE MINIONS!
DO YOU NOTICE THAT THE FORMER PRESIDENT DOESN'T
SAY A WORD, HE KNOWS HOW TO PLAY THE GAME, CHENEY
IS GOING TO PUT HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH, AND HE
WON'T BE ABLE TO GET IT OUT!
SILENCE IS GOLDEN, CHENEY NEEDS TO LEARN THIS!