Image by Flickr user Paul Keller Image by 20090209-guantanamo.jpg If you want to chat about PR damage, it's got to be hard to market the Guantanamo province in Cuba.
When asked about the possibility of moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the naval brig, Goose Creek Mayor Michael Heitzler said:
If the Department of Defense or the Pentagon say they need to come to the Charleston region and they need to be kept close to Goose Creek, then I think we need to do our part. None of us have really made a sacrifice in this war unless we have lost loved ones. We're in a war. I don't know why we can't understand that.
Read more stories on this subject in our Guantanamo topic page.I don't know if his constituents will like that much, but I do agree. If they have to be housed somewhere, and for some reason Charleston is the best spot, then I think we should suck it up.
However Heitzler is in the minority, with Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and Hanahan Mayor Minnie Blackwell not wanting the detainees here.
And South Carolina's state and U.S. representatives are already working hard to block the movement of detainees to Charleston, pushing legislation that restricts using federal money to move the detainees to the U.S. and threatening to cut power to the brig if the detainees are moved here.
There's been a lot of lip-flapping over the "potential damage" these detainees could do if they're brought here. But, with what? And they've certainly never managed to escape from the Cuban facility.
And I can't help but wonder how much some people really think it's a risk for the detainees to be here, and how much we're afraid they'll impact tourism dollars.
