Tuesday, November 10, 2015

ICYMI: Inhofe Speaks on Senate Floor about Obama Administration’s Plans to Close Gitmo

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), senior member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, today spoke on the Senate floor about the Obama administration's expected announcement of its plan to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) and relocate detainees on to U.S. soil. 

Click here to watch the floor speech

Today the Senate passed two bipartisan bills that prohibit the president from implementing his desire to move terrorists from the secure detention facility in Guantanamo to facilities in American communities. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2016 passed the Senate by a vote of 91 to 3. This bill has specific prohibitions against transferring terrorists from Guantanamo into the United States. The Senate also passed by a vote of 93 to 0 the bipartisan bill funding military construction and the Veterans Administration. This bipartisan bill prohibits the administration from building or retrofitting any prisons to hold GTMO terrorists in the United States.

As prepared for delivery:

On 22 January 2009, President Obama signed an executive order to close GTMO within a year.

On 3 February 2009, I introduced a bill to permanently prevent GTMO detainees from being relocated anywhere on US soil.

In May 2009, I authored bipartisan legislation with Senator Dan Inouye to block funding to close GTMO and move the detainees to U.S. soil – the amendment passed the Senate by a vote of 90 to 6 and was included in the 2009 War Supplemental Bill.

Every year since, Congress has blocked attempts by this president and his Administration to close GTMO or move terrorist detainees to the United States.

Every year Congress has passed laws that continue to limit transfer of these detainees to include the conferenced FY '16 NDAA bill prohibits transferring GTMO detainees to the United States through Dec. 31, 2016, and tightens restrictions on transferring GTMO detainees to certain foreign countries, language I strongly supported.

The FY '16 NDAA also includes language preventing closure of GTMO through Dec. 31, 2016.

However, this has not prevented President Obama from trying to empty GTMO, releasing these terrorist detainees to any country he can pay to take them and now threatening an executive order to bring them to the United States – to Colorado, Kansas and South Carolina - against the will of the American people.

This is not the first time this president has gone against the will of the American people or violated our laws.

The president violated the law last June when he transferred the “Taliban Five” from GTMO in exchange for Sergeant Bergdahl, failing to notify Congress 30 days before any transfer of terrorists from the detention facility and to explain how the threat posed by the terrorists had been substantially mitigated.

His failure to adhere to a law he signed placed our nation’s security at great risk for the foreseeable future as these terrorists try to reconnect with terrorist networks.

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 29 percent of detainees transferred out of GTMO have either been confirmed or suspected of returning to fight the United States and its allies. These individuals pose a direct threat to Americans at home and overseas.

GTMO is outside the sovereign territory of the United States, which means detainees held there do not have constitutional Rights, aside from habeas corpus.

Closing GTMO will result in terrorist detainees being sent to U.S. soil, gaining U.S. constitutional rights reserved for our citizens, and present an increased risk of terrorist activity in this country.

Federal courts have ruled that these detainees can be lawfully held until the end of the relevant conflict, whenever that might be.

But many cannot be criminally prosecuted because of evidence tainted by abusive interrogations, limitations in federal criminal law and other problems of fitting the demanding standards of criminal justice to the messiness of the terrorist battlefield.

We cannot assume Congress will be able to pass new laws to prevent terrorists from gaining rights reserved for American citizens, and ultimately being released into the United States.

Former US Attorney General Michael Mukasey wrote, “The question of what constitutional rights may apply to aliens in government custody is unsettled, but it is clear from existing jurisprudence that physical presence in the United States would be a significant, if not a decisive, factor.”

I am also concerned about the security of the people who will guard these terrorists, and their families.

When Thomson IL prison was discussed back in 2009, then Rep. Mark Kirk called the move “an unnecessary risk” and other Illinois members were concerned that the transfer of prisoners (some for trial and some for indefinite detention) could make the state a target for terrorists.

Mark was and is correct, prisons holding these detainees will become magnets and there is the very real possibility these detainees will recruit more terrorists and continue terrorist operations from inside.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said there is the very real possibility that the GTMO detainees will recruit more terrorists from among the federal inmate population and continue al Qaeda operations from the inside – this was how the New York synagogue bombers were recruited.

I have been to GTMO three times.

It is a state of the art facility that provides humane treatment for all detainees, fully compliant with Geneva Convention, provides treatment and oversight that exceed any maximum-security prison in the world – as attested to by human rights organizations, the Red Cross, former Attorney General Holder, and an independent commission led Admiral Walsh.

It is a secure location away from population centers with a $12M Expeditionary Legal Complex (ELC) that provides a secure location to try detainees charged by the U.S. government.

Key intelligence used to find Osama bin Laden was obtained at GTMO. CIA Director Panetta acknowledged that “clearly some of it came from detainees and the interrogation of detainees...”

Members from many states have voiced concern with housing these terrorists in their states, especially now that ISIL has demonstrated the ability to call up sleeper cells to attack locations here in our country.

I disagree with those who think that closing the detention facility at GTMO will end the propaganda campaign being waged by our enemies. 

The propaganda war will simply shift to whatever facility these terrorists are brought to in the United States, allowing them to engage in a whole new propaganda campaign against ‘GTMO North.’ The terrorists created GTMO’s image, not the actions at GTMO.

The attacks leading up to, including on and after 9/11, were not the result of holding detainees at GTMO.

Moving these terrorists held at GTMO to the United States will not stop future terrorist attacks against our homeland. We are at war; these are war criminals and need to be handled accordingly. 

The president continues to want to deal with this threat through law enforcement.

Law enforcement alone is not enough to protect us.

Furthermore, the risk of a terrorist's release in the United States, or elsewhere, and the security risk to those living near the location selected to house these terrorists is too great in my opinion.

These terrorists want to destroy us and will use any means to accomplish that goal.  

Bringing them to the United States is what these terrorists want – it brings them one step closer to accomplishing their goal of attacking America and its people.

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