NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com | Oklahoma Attorney Supports Gitmo Detainees' Move to U.S.
Oklahoma attorney Terry West is in support of Guantanamo Bay detainees being tried in U.S. courts.
Illinois governor says housing those detainees could help the economy to the tune of $1 billion over four years. But one republican lawmaker called that "The low road of economic growth."
About 50 more prisoners from Guantanamo Bay are expected to be transferred to the U.S. to face prosecution.By Dave Jordan, NEWS 9
OKLAHOMA CITY -- One Oklahoma attorney is speaking out in support of the measure to move detainees out of Guantanamo Bay and try them in U.S. courts.
Terry West says many of those suspected terrorists did not receive due process under the law and were denied legal counsel and West is all too familiar with the legal hurdles facing those detainees.
West represented one of those Gitmo detainees, but never met with his client. He found out about a year later that his client was sent back to Afghanistan. Now it appears some of those detainees will get their day in court and that move is being criticized.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani blasted the Obama administration for not using the military tribunals to bring a suspected Gitmo terrorist to justice.
"He's satisfied with it, he's going to use it," said former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "What the heck is he brining this guy to New York for if he doesn't have to?"
But West, a Shawnee attorney, has a different take.
"We can't be afraid to try cases when they are needed to be tried," said West. "If we couldn't try people because it was scary then the system wouldn't work."
West never made it that far when a legal organization recruited him to represent one of the Gitmo detainees. His client spent years at Guantanamo Bay without being charged or seeing an attorney that has West seeing red.
"It bothers me a lot and that's way I got involved in this years ago originally because that's not what we're about," West said.
West's client was sent back to Afghanistan under the Bush Administration. Meanwhile, President Obama is moving forward with his plans to move the rest of the suspects to U.S. jails. A facility in Illinois is said to be at the top of the list. Republicans blasted the move, citing safety and security concerns, but West doesn't have a problem with it.
"I thought it was amusing that when we started complaining about moving them to our prisons because they were terrorists," said West. "Believe me; if these guys get to our prisons, they're not going to be the meanest guys there. If these people are guilty of some of these crimes, let's charge them and let's convict them and let's punish them. But, to leave them there and not charge them with anything, that's what the complaint is."
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