By Reggie Marselus, special to the Kansas City Star

In recent weeks, both U.S. senators from Kansas – Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback – have made statements on their views of detainees at Guantanamo, Cuba.

Both have said they will vehemently oppose any attempt to transfer detainees to the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth.

The issue has become a political hot potato with many communities refusing to accept inmates from Guantanamo.

When President Barack Obama took office he ordered Guantanamo closed within a year. Last month, however, the Senate balked, voting to strip $80 million for the closing of the facility.

Roberts and Brownback have a lot of company. Their stated reasons are that the Leavenworth facility is not capable of housing the prisoners. The staff, administration and support people are not trained well enough.

There are no facilities for holding hearings or providing for all the unforeseen difficulties that can arise from having charge of these detainees.

Both senators have, in essence, told the world that Kansas and its detention facilities are not good enough to do the job. Our prison is not secure enough.
Our guards are not experienced enough. Our administration and staff are not qualified enough.

Both senators should reconsider their position.

Having worked at the penitentiary in an electrical construction capacity, I have personally witnessed the more than adequate security of the prison.

The staff, administration, guards and support personnel are all imminently qualified, dedicated and highly trained. Those detainees will be secure.

Kansas should not only welcome the chance to be considered for this momentous responsibility, but we should actually campaign to get the detainees.

Cowering, hiding and shrinking from action because of fear is not the response we should allow the world to see.

This is a golden opportunity to show the world that we are the most secure place on the planet. We have two major U.S. Army bases, Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, as well as McConnell Air Force base in Wichita. We are one of the safest states in the entire nation.

And think of the economic boost to the area surrounding Leavenworth, including the Kansas City metropolitan area. The federal government could improve and upgrade everything in and around the penitentiary.
Support services and businesses that supply them will thrive. That means jobs — permanent jobs, and lots of them.

The people of Kansas will be able to boast that when the need arose, we stood up to be counted as part of the razor’s edge in the struggle against those who would kill themselves in order to kill us.

There is no fear here. It would be a feather in our caps and another proud chapter in the legacy and story of our great state.

Reggie Marselus is a retired electrician. He lives in Lenexa.