Pretty much what you'd expect. The RNC released this statement on behalf of Michael Steele:
The decision by President Obama to transfer up to 100 detainees from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay to a state prison in rural Thomson, Illinois, is yet another example of the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats not listening to the American people. This decision is not only a risky experiment with America’s national security but flies in the face of what Americans know to be in our best interest. Even before President Obama signed the executive order to close Guantanamo Bay, the overwhelming majority of Americans opposed housing terrorists on U.S. soil and today it is no different. With this announcement, President Obama has left little doubt that he is more concerned with America’s world popularity than the will and the safety of the very people who elected him president. The American people have stated loud and clear that they don’t want terrorists in their backyards – it’s just a shame that President Obama and Congressional Democrats aren’t interested in listening.
So yeah, this isn't an "experiment" unless you ignore the hundreds of convicted terrorists already housed in American prisons. Both the American Correctional Association and the Federal Prison Officers' Union have issued statements saying that these individuals, most of whom have not been charged let alone convicted of any crime, can be housed here safely.
Of course, as I wrote earlier, the Obama administration national security policy looks a lot like the Bush policy once the courts got finished with it, so it's maddening to listen to what is basically substance-less criticism from the GOP when they're pretty much getting everything they could have wanted short of a Department of Waterboarding.
-- A. Serwer
