by Chris Bodenner
Ackerman points out one of the more compelling details from the Standish town hall:
It looks like [moderator and local businessman Dave] Munson has had someone whispering in his ear, according to The Washington Post, and that’s Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.). Munson found the economic arguments for moving the detainees to Standish compelling, until…
“He told me things that really scared the heck out of me,” Munson said. “He told me about soft targets and safe zones, that if they came to this country they would have rights, visitors and friends would come who could be jihadists.”
Those are some lurid and rather unlikely scenarios. [...] It’s prudent to plan for the worst, but it’s fear-mongering to imply that Standish would become a Ground Zero waiting to happen.
In fact, when the prison closure was announced two months ago, Munson traveled all the way to DC to lobby for Guantanamo inmates. But Munson was the one who was lobbied successfully; Hoekstra over cocktails convinced him to take a 180-degree stance. And according to a local report, Hoekstra wasn't even among the seven Michigan politicians Munson was scheduled to meet on the trip. Who knows what was said exactly, or if there was any sort of political bartering going on. (Munson is also VP of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association, which is trying to kill a proposed smoking ban.) But I doubt it. I spoke with Munson yesterday, and he seems like a well-meaning guy who was swayed by Hoekstra's stature on the House intelligence committee. Or simply his frightening rhetoric.