Elections Do Matter
I was reminded of one of my favorite “laws”, the law of unintended consequences, by Security Worries in the Suburbs in today’s Washington Post. The article concerns Alexandria, Virginia, a city that borders the Potomac River and which is about 6 miles south of the District of Columbia.
An outcry is growing in Alexandria over a prospect no one seems to like: terrorist suspects in the suburbs.
The historic, vibrant community less than 10 miles from the White House markets itself as a “federal friendly zone.” But it has turned decidedly unfriendly to news that the Obama administration might move some detainees from their highly controlled military fortress at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Alexandria to stand trial at the federal courthouse.
“We would be absolutely opposed to relocating Guantanamo prisoners to Alexandria,” Mayor William D. Euille (D) said. “We would do everything in our power to lobby the president, the governor, the Congress and everyone else to stop it. We’ve had this experience, and it was unpleasant. Let someone else have it.”
The 2006 death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted of conspiring in the terrorist attacks of Sept, 11, 2001, turned the neighborhood into a virtual encampment, with heavily armed agents, rooftop snipers, bomb-sniffing dogs, blocked streets, identification checks and a fleet of television satellite trucks.
According to USA Today results, Alexandria’s 70,000 voters tilted by a 5 to 2 ratio for Obama. I wonder if any of those 50,000 Obamaniacs will give any thought to the possibility that citizen concerns such as theirs were anticipated by the Bush administration and were included in the decision making that led to the opening of Guantanamo Bay in the first place.
I find Alexandria’s NIMBY attitude to be, to put it politely, hypocritical. Elections do matter.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Well, I live in Alexandria and personally I don’t mind it. I might not go out and ASK them to do it originally, but I don’t object either. These prisoners and dare I say it PEOPLE need to be tried someplace.
I don’t think the problem has been that Guantanamo Bay existed in of itself, rather how the detainees were treated, denied trials, etc. It was more how it was operated and how people were detained without charges ever being made against them etc.