Guantanamo ideal location for refugees

To the editor:

Here is an idea reconciling the dilemma of what and how to deal with the Syrian refugees, without sacrificing compassion or common sense security for Americans:

Since adequately vetting thousands of people immediately is beyond our government's ability (how do you vet people who have absolutely no ID? And who are you going to believe: our director of the FBI or the uninformed who equate common sense precaution with lack of compassion?), significant time will be required to accomplish this.

Why not create an interim place of safe haven by using Guantanamo Bay for something good? It was used for a similar purpose to house 34,000 Haitian refugees in 1991, and again in 1994-95 to house 55,000 Cubans.

We have something the European countries don't have; let's use the facility creatively, and process these refugees legally and with common sense.

Tom Kopecky

Cedar Rapids