[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E979-E980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       IT IS TIME TO CLOSE THE GUANTANAMO BAY DETENTION FACILITY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JANE HARMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 8, 2007

  Ms. HARMAN. Madam Speaker, the September 11th terrorist attacks posed 
a defining challenge for the United States. Our Nation was savagely 
attacked; our peace and prosperity threatened. A swift and decisive 
response was necessary.
  Many of us offered to work with the Administration to come up with a 
legal framework to guide that response. One that offered the 
flexibility needed to meet the challenges posed by al Qaida and 21st 
century terrorism, but also respected human rights and the rule of law.
  Unfortunately, the Administration went its own way and failed to 
establish a widely accepted legal foundation for its actions. We are 
all now paying the price.
  Nowhere are the problems created by the White House's myopic approach 
more apparent than at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

[[Page E980]]

  I have visited Gitmo three times.
  Each time, I asked hard questions about how the men detained there 
were being treated, how long they would be held there, and what efforts 
were being made to ensure that the innocent were released. By the third 
visit, it became very clear that I was getting the run-around.
  The truth was that the Administration was adrift in what I call the 
``fog of law.'' Guantanamo was built on a legal fiction. The 
Administration claimed the authority to detain any person it deemed 
appropriate, to deny that person the protections of U.S. and 
international law, and to do so indefinitely--so long as that person 
was held outside U.S. soil.
  The claim was extraordinary, and the Administration seemed 
unconcerned that it was without sound legal parameters to guide its 
actions.
  At Gitmo, the Administration effectively discarded the procedures 
that we have used for centuries--in civilian and military tribunals 
alike--to separate the innocent from the guilty and ensure fair 
punishment for those that deserve it.
  Hundreds of men were detained at Guantanamo for years, without access 
to an independent court in which to argue their innocence, without 
access to the evidence against them, and without protection of the 
Geneva Conventions.
  These are rights that the United States has long pressed developing 
countries to adopt, arguing that they are fundamental to any just legal 
system.
  It should be no surprise that the Administration's ad hoc procedures 
appear to have resulted in the improper detention of many individuals 
whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or 
having the wrong name.
  The Supreme Court brought the curtain down on the Guantanamo legal 
fiction in its Hamdan decision.
  And now it is time for the Congress to act.
  Madam Speaker, the United States is engaged in a long struggle 
against al Qaida and other jihadist terror organizations. These groups 
are successfully exploiting the antipathy that many in the Arab world--
and, increasingly, not just the Arab world--feel toward the West, and 
toward America in particular.
  In order to erode al Qaida's appeal and dry up its recruiting base, 
we have to win the battle for the hearts and minds of the next 
generation of would-be terrorists.
  Guantanamo has become a liability. The real and perceived injustices 
occurring there have given our enemies an easy example of our failures 
and alleged ill intent. The prison is so widely viewed as illegitimate, 
so plainly inconsistent with America's proud legal traditions; it has 
become a stinging symbol of our tarnished standing abroad.
  Defense Secretary Gates has admitted as much, arguing the facility 
should be closed because its ``taint'' would render any trials held 
there illegitimate in the eyes of the world.
  I agree with Secretary Gates. It is time to shut the prison down.
  That is why I am proud to introduce, together with my friend and 
member of the Armed Services Committee Mr. Abercrombie, legislation to 
require the closing of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. 
Senator Feinstein has introduced a similar bill in the Senate.
  The bill requires the President to close the facility within one year 
of enactment, and gives him a range of choices for dealing with the 
detainees. These options include transfer to a detainee's country of 
origin (so long as that country provides certain assurances regarding 
treatment of the detainee); transfer to a facility in the United States 
to be tried before military or civilian authorities (like the first 
1993 World Trade Center bombers and John Walker Lindh); transfer to a 
qualified international tribunal; or, if appropriate, outright release.
  Make no mistake: this legislation is not about setting terrorists 
free. Many of those held at Gitmo are the worst of the worst--hard-core 
haters who cannot be rehabilitated. This legislation is about being 
true to America's most fundamental values and legal norms.
  Closing Guantanamo alone will not heal American's moral black eye. 
But it is a necessary first step.

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