Leave detainees at Gitmo

Leavenworth has always seemed a bit outside the greater Kansas City loop. It is not as convenient to get to as, say, Lawrence, with Kansas Highway 10 making the trip from here a snap. And, candidly, Leavenworth, while steeped in history, lacks many of the amenities that we enjoy in Johnson County.

Now, all of a sudden, Leavenworth seems much closer. The change has occurred since the Obama administration raised the possibility of relocating the 100 or so terrorists, or detainees if you like, from Guantanamo Bay to the Leavenworth area.

Let us not get burdened with the controversy that plagues Gitmo. Whether treatment there is, or was, appropriate. The legalities over incarceration.

Gitmo, in the eyes of many Americans, is an evil place and should be shut down. That is the way they perceive it, based on what they have heard, read and seen on television.

Note that that is their perception. And a lot of people will tell you that perception is, or can become, reality.

To be analytical, Gitmo is not, in and of itself, an evil place, unacceptable for human habitation.

Gitmo is a lifeless piece of real estate with floors, walls and roofs - plain infrastructure. Nothing more, nothing less.

Gitmo is the site, emphasize site, of what many consider to be intolerable treatment.

Gitmo, the physical plant, did not inflict harm on anyone.

It is, as noted, the perception of what happened there that pumps emotions.

Actually, what transpired at Gitmo could have happened any place, including Fort Leavenworth or the federal prison at Leavenworth.

In fact, had the Gitmo drama unfolded in Leavenworth, the president might well be considering a move to the Bay.

We should not, at this point, lose sight of how Gitmo came into public awareness. A detention facility was established during the presidency of George W. Bush, an unpopular president who oversaw an unpopular war in Iraq.

The Gitmo episode is entwined in public disdain for Bush.

Then was then. Now is now.

We have a new president, Barack Obama.

Count him with the people who perceive Gitmo to be a bad scene. He has said he will close it.

But Gitmo can be anything the commander in chief wants it to be.

If he decides to change the way people there are treated, he can order it. In fact, Gitmo could be transformed into a model of humane, decent treatment for the world to see.

Such a change would inevitably alter public perception and opinion.

Clinging to the past is not, if you believe Obama, the way of
America's future. It is change, and he has the authority to bring it about at Guantanamo Bay.

Let the detention facilities in Leavenworth continue to do what they do best.

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