Here is a Presidential memorandum as released by the White House, which orders the acquisition of a prison in Illinois to house terrorist detainees now being held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

After reading this - what do you think of the move?  Will it matter?  Why is it a mistake? Or why is it the right move?

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release December 15, 2009

December 15, 2009

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

SUBJECT: Directing Certain Actions with Respect to

Acquisition and Use of Thomson Correctional

Center to Facilitate Closure of Detention

Facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

By the authority vested in me as President and as Commander

in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States by the

Constitution and the laws of the United States of America,

including the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public

Law 107-40, 115 Stat. 224), and in order to facilitate the

closure of detention facilities at the Guantanamo Bay Naval

Base, I hereby direct that the following actions be taken as

expeditiously as possible with respect to the facility known

as the Thomson Correctional Center (TCC) in Thomson, Illinois:

1. The Attorney General shall acquire and activate the TCC as

a United States Penitentiary, which the Attorney General

has determined would reduce the Bureau of Prisons' shortage

of high security, maximum custody cell space and could be

used for other appropriate inmate or detainee management

purposes. The Attorney General shall also provide to the

Department of Defense a sufficient portion of the TCC to

serve as a detention facility to be operated by the

Department of Defense in order to accommodate the

relocation of detainees by the Secretary of Defense

in accordance with paragraph 2 of this memorandum.

2. The Secretary of Defense, working in consultation with the

Attorney General, shall prepare the TCC for secure housing

of detainees currently held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval

Base who have been or will be designated for relocation,

and shall relocate such detainees to the TCC, consistent

with laws related to Guantanamo detainees and the findings

in, and interagency Review established by, Executive

Order 13492 of January 22, 2009.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any

right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at

law or in equity, by any party against the United States, its

departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees,

or agents, or any other person.

The Secretary of Defense is authorized and directed to publish

this memorandum in the

BARACK OBAMA

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