Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL) called the Gitmo detainees who may be moved to a prison in his district "really, really mean people" who are "driven by a savage religion" in an interview with a local NBC affiliate that aired yesterday.

Manzullo represents Thomson, home of a near-empty prison that might be used to house several Guantanamo Bay detainees. "These are really really mean people whose job it is to kill people," Manzullo said. He claimed that they were driven by a "savage religion."

Manzullo supports the federal government's purchase of the prison --- just not if alleged terrorists are imprisoned there. "The people of Thomson should not be held hostage," he said, "by saying, you don't get the prison unless you take these 215 terrorists." He believes that the odds of escape are low; however, his concern is for the risk of terrorist attack against the prison or Thomson itself.

Thomson, Illinois, is by the Mississippi Railroad and cornfields and easily accessible by automobile. So that would create a significant security threat not only to the people of that area...but of the entire country.

Manzullo isn't the only Illinois Republican opposing the proposed relocation. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), who is running for President Barack Obama's former Senate seat, has said that moving Gitmo detainees to Thomson would make Illinois "ground zero" for future terrorist attacks.

Here's the full segment that the NBC affiliate aired: