Colorado: Gitmo

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter speaks at a press conference on the campaign trail in September. (File Photo/Naomi Zeveloff)

ColoradoSenateNews.com is at it again. The partisan communications operation of the Republican Colorado Senate Minority Office issued a gleeful press release Monday applauding “Ritter’s change of tune on Gitmo detainees.” The release includes an audio clip that appears to represent Gov. Bill Ritter suggesting Guantanamo Bay prisoners should be sent to Pakistan rather than housed at the Supermax federal detention facility in Florence. Except that’s not what Ritter said on a radio broadcast Monday morning, and the audio clip included on the ColoradoSenateNews site — while presenting itself as a seamless statement from Ritter — edits out a lengthy discussion that narrows the topic considerably while also criticizing the Bush administration for bungling the cases against many of the Gitmo detainees.

Republican lawmakers on Friday signed petitions protesting a possible transfer of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Colorado, saying the state shouldn't be a dumping ground for terrorists.

"The type of terrorists these would be, I'd be ill at ease if I lived in Florence or Canon City or Pueblo West," said Republican Sen. Ken Kester of Las Animas. "I don't think we need 200 or 300 terrorists in Colorado. They will infiltrate the other convicts that are there."

President Barack Obama announced Thursday he would close the Guantanamo Bay prison, located on an American naval base in Cuba, that has held suspected terrorists since the start of the war in Iraq.