Reid Flipping Again On Gitmo Detainees In U.S.?

Tuesday, 19 May 2009 19:00

WASHINGTON ? Less than 24 hours after unequivocally stating that ?under no circumstances will we allow terrorists to be released into the United States,? Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) quickly walked back today, saying he will ?evaluate carefully? a future plan that would transfer Guantanamo detainees to American prisons.

Today?s turn of events comes just two weeks after bragging that he ?felt pretty good about where we are on the issue,? referring to the Obama administration?s plan to shutter the prison facility by January 2010 and relocate the 240 current detainees to the United States.

At the time, Reid boasted that the ?vast, vast majority, if not every Democratic senator? agreed with the Obama administration?s plan to shutter the prison facility and relocate its current residents to American soil. Since then, multiple members of Reid?s Democrat caucus have come out against any plan that would move terrorists to America, including U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), who said this past weekend that no detainee should come to the U.S and Guantanamo should not be closed on the current timeline.

Reid?s shift on Gitmo come on the heels of a poll conducted by his home state Las Vegas Review-Journal that showed half of Nevada?s voters holding an unfavorable view of the Majority Leader, while 45 percent of voters ?would definitely? vote to replace him.

?Today?s walk-back regarding the transfer of Gitmo detainees is just the latest in a series of Reid?s policy positions that are clearly out-of-step with Nevadans, and represents more of the Washington double-speak that the American people overwhelmingly rejected at the ballot boxes last fall,? National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Brian Walsh said today.

?With the potential transfer of some of the world?s deadliest killers to American communities at stake, Harry Reid owes his constituents a clear and consistent answer on where he stands ? and the answer should not be one that will continually shift with the ever-changing political winds,? Walsh concluded.