Harkey resolution wants Obama to keep Gitmo prisoners away from Camp Pendleton

March 28, 4:30 PMSacramento Statehouse ExaminerShawn E. Hamilton

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An Assembly resolution that encourages the Obama administration not to relocate terror suspects held at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay to Camp Pendleton Marine Base in southern California has been introduced to the state legislature. Dana Point Republican Diane Harkey's measure, Assembly Joint Resolution 5 (AJR 5), anticipates President Obama's pledge to close the controversial military base that has been subject to international criticism due to allegations of torture and lack of due process. Harkey's resolution emphasizes Camp Pendleton's focus on training soldiers, lack of appropriate accommodations, and the nearby presence of San Onofre nuclear plant as factors making Camp Pendleton unsuitable for relocating Guantanamo prisoners. AJR 5 specifically urges Congress not to redirect or house Guantanamo detainees at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in Oceanside.

Vijay Padmanabhan is at least the second former Bush administration official to publicly label "enhanced interrogation techniques" as torture. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

 The measure asks the United States Congress, regarding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, not to redirect those detainees to, or house them at, the Marine Corps Base at Camp Pendleton, California. The text of the resolution notes that “On January 22, 2009, President Barack Obama announced plans to close the detention center at the United States Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and signed an order that begins the process of closing Guantanamo Bay.” Generally, Assemblymember Harkey sees the matter as an issue of public safety.

“We wanted to be sure that Camp Pendleton is not on the list to accept because it is right in the middle of a huge urban area and near a nuclear generating facility, and the remaining Guantanamo habitants are some of the most dangerous of the 'pack' the original group of detainees, so we have a natural concern, Harkey said. “I don't think that these sorts of terrorists should be anywhere near urban areas or anywhere where they can potentially escape--be released--and harm individuals.”

The Obama administration didn't specifically cite Camp Pendleton as a likely site to relocate prisoners from the Cuban prison; it simply hasn't excluded it from the list, and this is what Harkey along with several members of congress have tried to do. Representatives Darrell Issa, Brian Bilbray, and Duncan Hunter have unveiled House Resolution 633, which would prevent federal funds from being used to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the Naval Consolidated Brig at Miramar, California, the Camp Pendleton Base Brig--or to construct facilities for those detainees at those locations.

One of the resolution's clauses states that Secretary of Defense Gates rejects the claim that rehousing Guantanamo Bay detainees at Camp Pendleton would pose a safety risk and has said that he believes there are ways that those detainees could be moved to facilities such as Camp Pendleton while still safeguarding the community. Harkey disagrees. “It is very, very important that they are in maximum security and not available to just walk out—walk away or to somehow cause a terrorist accident somewhere; I mean Guantanamo was surrounded by water,” she said. “It was not an easy escape, but this being an urban area, if for some reason there were a break are there were some maliciousness or some accident whereby these persons got released somehow—either on their own or under force, we'd be under a tough situation there.”

While it is unclear how relocated prisoners might escape from facilities at Camp Pendleton, and how they might sabotage the San Onofre nuclear plant if they did escape, Harkey believes it's in the public's best interest not to take a chance. When KPFA asked the Assemblymember if it was fair to call the proposal a NIMBY issue, NIMBY being an acronym for “Not in My Back Yard,” she responded, “I'm not saying it's not a NIMBY issue. It is very much a NIMBY issue when you've got millions of residents living in close proximity; it needs to be a NIMBY issue. Those are things that need to be NIMBY. We do not want dangerous criminals—terrorists-- adjacent to high residential population areas. I've just got to believe that there are better places to position them, and if Guantanamo does have to be closed, which was an island, which was secure because it was an island, then for goodness' sakes lets not put them in heavy population area,” she said.

No formal opposition has challenged the resolution so far although civil libertarians may take issue with the fact that the United States is actively seeking foreign countries to take released prisoners, yet few locales in the United States are volunteering to take prisoners the U.S itself created. To complicate matters, ex Bush administration official and Republican, Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, told the Associated Press last week that many detainees still locked up at Guantanamo are innocent, men swept up by U.S. forces unable to distinguish enemies from civilians. He said some of the innocent people have been there for six or seven years.

A possible solution would be to criminally prosecute the Guantanamo prisoners in the United States, imprisoning the bona fide terrorists and letting the others go. However, a problem arises when torture has been used to extract testimony. Evidence coerced under torture is unreliable in court. Consequently, some of the guilty could end up being be released along with the innocent.

Harkey said upon legislative approval of her measure, she will send a formal letter with the resolution to the Obama administration requesting that Camp Pendleton be removed from the list of possible relocation sites.