John Murtha Invites Gitmo Detainees to Live in his District

John Murtha is willing to roll out the welcome mat for displaced Gitmo detainess.

A top House Democrat who is a leading critic of the Iraq war says he would have no qualms about transferring Guantanamo detainees to a prison in his Pennsylvania district.

Suspected terrorists at the military's detention center in Cuba are "no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo," Rep. John Murtha told Fox News on Wednesday.

Murtha sees housing the Gitmo guys in his district as a sort of economic stimulus plan.

And after Murtha told FOX News that he'd be willing to take in terrorist suspects, some saw it as a job-creation opportunity. His district's maximum-security prisons are full, according to the state Department of Corrections, so a new prison would likely be needed to house any of the 245 detainees now in Cuba.

"We're looking for some jobs down here and Congressman Murtha has been exceptional with helping us with that," said Brad Geyer, a councilman in Connellsville, Pa., when asked about Guantanamo prisoners. "My constituents ... would probably err on the side of enjoying the possibility of some new jobs."

State Sen. J. Barry Stout, whose district overlaps Murtha's, said a new maximum-security facility would certainly have to be built to accommodate the prisoners. And he said a new prison is a reliable, 'round-the-clock employer.

"It could be constructed and operated in a safe manner, and it would have an economic impact in the region," Stout said. "You never shut a prison down."

..."They're no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo," Murtha said, adding that he saw "no reason not to put 'em in prisons in the United States and handle them the way they would handle any other prisoners." He said in a statement Thursday that Guantanamo had cast a "dark shadow" on America's moral standing in the world.

But some residents of his 12th Congressional District were appalled by the safety implications of his statement.

"It's just ridiculous and it's a direct insult," said Bill Russell, an Iraq war veteran who ran against Murtha unsuccessfully last year and is running again in 2010. He warned about the dangers of detainees mingling with stateside prisoners.

"You've got the risk of recruitment where they're selling their brand of Jihad," he said.

He said the proposal is also an insult to the passengers of Flight 93, one of four hijacked planes which went down near Murtha's district on Sept. 11, 2001.

...Kevin Miller, who lives in Murtha's district, told FOX News that, "He brings the pork home and people seem to like that."

...But he said the idea that Guantanamo prisoners are no more dangerous in the 12th District is "just insane."

"Just insane."

That sums it up.