GITMO: Waste of money

Question: Who is the recipient of the $450 million it costs annually to babysit 100 terrorists at Guantanamo Correctional Facility? That is an insane amount of money to house so few. I never thought too much about the cost of detaining the terrorists until I became aware that my tax dollars and your tax dollars were paying for this institution.

My son is Chairman of the Committee for the Correctional Division of the Public Employees Union for the Province of Ontario, Canada. He chairs the meetings, presents the union’s position on the budget, and other issues to the Parliament and the media. He represents the employees of 26 detention and correction centers. Jointly these units house an average of 8,300 inmates.

The budget for 2015 was $665 million. I share this information to give you a better idea of the costs of these correctional institutions. I know it is difficult to make accurate comparisons. However, we can hopefully obtain helpful information.

Maybe we should house our terrorists detainees in Canada. Just KIDDING! My son says they have enough hard core criminals.

If it is a must that we close Guantanamo I do have another suggestion. Why don’t we reactivate Alcatraz? With $450 million we could provide each terrorists with a Trump-like penthouse. We could replace the old iron gates with gold gates to match the Golden Gate Bridge. If we can’t legally hold the prisoners on US soil, we could tire a rope around the island and tow it 12 miles out into the International waters. Since we’ve got the experience here in North Island to move islands (Hagadone’s floating green) we could provide all the legal citizens or legal landed immigrants to move Alcatraz Island into International waters. With the money left over we could provide a good education for all the terrorists at the Trump University. They would not even have to pay off a student loan.

I hope you see the irony in my sarcastic suggestions. If you are having half as much fun reading this letter as I am writing it you are probably laughing. ‘GOOD!!!’ The Bible says laughter is like a good medicine. You must be feeling better already. I was until I was reminded again our taxes are paying big time for Guantanamo. That is no laughing matter!

RON VIESELMEYER

Coeur d’Alene