LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) – U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts is raising concerns that President Barack Obama may try to place terrorist suspects at a Kansas military prison – and is forcefully vowing to stop it – as he taps into the potential fears of voters during the closing days of a tight re-election campaign.
The longtime Republican senator, who fought against moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to Fort Leavenworth in 2009, alleged during a rally Thursday in the Army base’s home town that Obama wants to try anew to house suspected terrorists there. It marked a climax for a campaign theme that Roberts has been testing over the past several weeks as he tries to fend off a stiff challenge from independent candidate Greg Orman.
Obama has not said that he wants to move detainees from the Cuban facility to Kansas. But that hasn’t stopped Roberts’ assertions.
“The president is now saying that he’s going to renew his efforts to put all of the Gitmo terrorists somewhere in the continental United States, and you know where he’s going to try to put them, and that’s right here,” Roberts told dozens of people packed into a room at the High Noon Saloon & Brewery in Leavenworth.
“I’ve got news for the president,” added Roberts, waving a pointed finger has he leaned forward on a lectern. “Not on my watch! We’re not going to do that.”