Gitmo detainees are on their way to Illinois.  Following the leaked draft memo posted on conservative websites on Friday, the White House has decided to make a public announcement, after initially skirting questions about the transfer of the terrorists.

Foxnews reports that an official announcement will be made on Tuesday:

Taking an important step on the thorny path to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, the White House plans to announce Tuesday that the government will acquire an underutilized state prison in rural Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo.

Administration officials as well as Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will make an official announcement at the White House.

Officials from both the White House and Durbin’s office confirmed that President Barack Obama had directed the government to acquire Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., a sleepy town near the Mississippi River about 150 miles from Chicago.

A Durbin spokesman said the facility would house federal inmates and no more than 100 detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

President Obama feels a great sense of urgency in making this move quickly, as support among the left has slowly eroded, and took a major blow when he announced the Afghanistan troop increase.  Liberal sites like the Huffington Post and Daily KOS are reporting that President Obama’s broken campaign promises are demoralizing his far-left base.  Closing Gitmo was one of his major campaign promises that played well with far-left liberals.

While this move plays well with his liberal base, much of America is not happy with Obama’s plan to try the terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks in New York, or this move of Gitmo terrorists to US soil.

We will report on this further as the story develops.

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