[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 186 (Thursday, December 11, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10937-S10939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ANNOUNCING CHRISTOPHER JAMES DUFFIELD
Mr. KYL. Madam President, I rise today to announce to the Senate the
arrival of another Duffield in this world. Christopher James Duffield
was born to his parents, Steven and Cara, on the third day of November.
Christopher's father Steven served as the executive director of the
Platform Committee at this year's Republican Convention in Minneapolis.
Prior to that, Steven served as a senior policy advisor and chief
counsel to me at the Republican Policy Committee and the Senate
Republican Conference. Christopher's mother, Cara, is a partner at the
law firm of Wiley Rein.
Christopher joins us at what is a tumultuous and difficult time for
both the Nation and the Republican Party. On November 4, we Republicans
fared poorly in Federal elections, losing the Presidency and deepening
our deficit in the House and Senate. The new majority promises to cure
the Nation's economic ills with a Keynesian spending spree of the type
that worked so brilliantly in the 1930s, and pledges that it will
reduce taxes for 95 percent of Americans, while only increasing them
for some other guy. Many fear that the coming years will put the test
to Alexis de Tocqueville's warning that ``the American Republic will
endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their
own money.''
Meanwhile, since September of this year, the United States has
experienced a severe financial crisis, precipitated by the collapse of
banks that have been overwhelmed by the weight of unsound mortgages
that they acquired. Many established and storied financial institutions
have disappeared in bankruptcies and mergers during the last few
months. As lending has tightened, unemployment has increased, and
[[Page S10938]]
the Nation appears to be headed into a deep recession. And on November
26, as if to remind us that the other problems confronting our nation
have not receded, a group of Islamic terrorists attacked innocent
civilians in the Indian city of Bombay, killing 171 people. Those
attacks reminded many of us of the evil that this Nation faced on
September 11, 2001, and of the long war that still lies ahead of us.
And yet--and yet, things are not so bad. The United States is about
to complete another peaceful democratic transition, and has just
elected its first African-American President, giving hope to many that
the Nation will yet overcome its racial divisions. The current credit
crisis is not unlike ones that we have survived in the past, and our
understanding of the financial system and how to fix it certainly is
much deeper than it was in 1929. And, had you asked Americans 7 years
ago, very few then would have dared to guess that the United States
would not suffer any foreign terrorist attacks on its soil during these
ensuing 7 years.
The Republican Party, though currently unloved, will return to its
roots and eventually regain the confidence of the American people. And
though Republicans will be out of power in the political branches, the
current President, with a little help from his friends, has made two
very fine appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court, restoring a semblance
of the rule of law to that branch of government for the first time in
many years.
The Republicans' loss of the Presidency may even have some salutary
effects. Already, there are signs that with a Democrat coming to the
White House, our Nation's liberal press may relent in its 8-year
assault on the authority of the executive branch. On the day that
Christopher was born, I and many others picked up the New York Times
and nearly spilled our coffee when we came across a front-page article
that was titled: ``Next President Will Face Test on Detainees--Some at
Guantanamo Called Serious Risks.'' I will ask that a copy of this
article be printed in the Record following my remarks.
For at least 5 years now, anyone who relied on the New York Times as
a source of information about the world was liable to come away with
the impression that the men held by our military at the Guantanamo
Naval Station are detained there purely out of spite or out of some
other even less pure motive. News stories about Guantanamo have
credited every accusation made by the detainees and their lawyers, no
matter how implausible, but would treat with great skepticism any
evidence that the Guantanamo detentions are necessary--that is, on the
rare occasion when the papers could even be bothered to report such
evidence.
And yet just as a Democratic Presidential victory began to seem
inevitable, the New York Times treats us to this article. We learn
therein that many of the detainees have participated in terrorist
attacks against Americans, are skilled in bombmaking and other
terrorist arts, or have announced that they would like nothing better
than to return to killing innocent people. For some of us, it is not
news that the men detained at Guantanamo are dangerous. I would invite
my colleagues to review the minority views that I and others submitted
for Senate Report 110-90, or Justice Scalia's dissenting opinion in the
Boumediene case. And on November 3, for the first time, such
information is not news even to those who trust the New York Times.
Public-relations victories like this one are important, for
ultimately our enemies do not expect to defeat us on the battlefield.
Rather, they seek to win by sowing fear, by demoralizing us, and by
weakening our will to defend ourselves. Their particular brand of
medieval barbarism will never sustain a civilization capable of
defeating us in a conventional battle, but even a powerful nation such
as ours must be willing to fight if it is to prevail against such an
enemy.
I know that Steven and Cara will instill in young Christopher, and
his sister Laura, an appreciation and respect for our Nation, its
unique institutions, and its open and democratic culture. It is just
such people, who understand this country and its virtues, who
ultimately will ensure that the American way of life continues and even
thrives. And it is thus with hope for the future that I welcome young
Christopher James Duffield to this world.
I ask unanimous consent that the following news article be printed in
the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the New York Times, Nov. 3, 2008]
Next President Will Face Test On Detainees
Some at Guantanamo Called Serious Risks
(By William Glaberson and Margot Williams)
They were called the Dirty 30--bodyguards tor Osama bin
Laden captured early in the Afghanistan war--and many of them
are still being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Others still at
the much-criticized detention camp there include prisoners
who the government says were trained in assassination and the
use of poisons and disguises.
One detainee is said to have been schooled in making
detonators out of Sega game cartridges. A Yemeni who has
received little public attention was originally selected by
Mr. bin Laden as a potential Sept. 11 hijacker, intelligence
officials say.
As the Bush administration enters its final months with no
apparent plan to close the Guantanamo Bay camp, an extensive
review of the government's military tribunal files suggests
that dozens of the roughly 255 prisoners remaining in
detention are said by military and intelligence agencies to
have been captured with important terrorism suspects, to have
connections to top Al Qaeda leaders or to have other serious
terrorism credentials.
Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have said they would
close the detention camp, but the review of the government's
public files underscores the challenges of fulfilling that
promise. The next president will have to contend with
sobering intelligence claims against many of the remaining
detainees.
``It would be very difficult for a new president to come in
and say, `I don't believe what the C.I.A. is saying about
these guys,'' said Daniel Marcus, a Democrat who was general
counsel of the 9/11 Commission and held senior positions in
the Carter and Clinton administrations.
The strength of the evidence is difficult to assess,
because the government has kept much of it secret and because
of questions about whether some was gathered through torture.
When the administration has had to defend its accusations
in court, government lawyers in several cases have retreated
from the most serious claims. As a result, critics have
raised doubts about the danger of Guantanamo's prisoners
beyond a handful of the camp's most notorious detainees.
But as a new administration begins to sort through the
government's dossiers on the men, the analysis shows,
officials are likely to face tough choices in deciding how
many of Guantanamo's hard cases should be sent home, how many
should be charged and what to do with the rest.
The Pentagon has declined to provide a list of the
detainees now being held or even to specify how many there
are beyond offering a figure of ``about 255.'' But by
reviewing thousands of pages of government documents released
in recent years, as well as court records and news media
reports from around the world, The New York Times was able to
compile its own list and construct a picture of the
population still held at Guantanamo. Much of the analysis is
based on records of hearings at Guantanamo about individual
detainees, which have been made public since 2006 as a result
of an Associated Press law suit. The Times has posted those
documents on its Web site arranged by detainee name.
The analysis shows that about 34 of the remaining detainees
were seized in raids in Pakistan that netted three men the
government calls major Qaeda operatives: Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi
bin al-Shibh and Al Hajj Abdu Ali Shargawi. Sixteen detainees
are accused of some of the most significant terrorist attacks
in the last decade, including the 1998 American embassy
bombings, the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen, and
the Sept. 11 attacks. Twenty others were called Mr. bin
Laden's bodyguards.
The analysis also shows that 13 of the original 23
detainees who arrived at Guantanamo on Jan. 11, 2002, remain
there nearly seven years later. Of the approximately 255 men
now being held, more than 60 have been cleared for release or
transfer, according to the Pentagon, but remain at Guantanamo
because of difficulties negotiating transfer agreements
between the United States and other countries.
Two of those still held, government documents show, were
seen by Mr. bin Laden as potential Sept. 11 hijackers. The
case of Mohammed al-Qahtani, whom the government has labeled
a potential ``20th hijacker,'' has drawn wide notice because
he was subjected to interrogation tactics that included sleep
deprivation, isolation and being put on a leash and forced to
perform dog tricks.
The other detainee deemed a potential hijacker, whose
presence at Guantanamo has gone virtually unmentioned in
public reports, is a Yemeni called Abu Bara. The 9/11
Commission said he studied flights and airport security and
participated in an important planning meeting for the 2001
attack in Malaysia in January 2000.
[[Page S10939]]
The Guantanamo list also includes two Saudi brothers,
Hassan and Walid bin Attash. The government describes them as
something like Qaeda royalty. Military officials said during
Guantanamo hearings that their father, imprisoned in Saudi
Arabia, was a ``close contact of Osama bin Laden'' and that
his sons were committed jihadists.
Walid bin Attash is facing a possible death sentence as a
coordinator of the Sept. 11 attacks. Hassan bin Attash was
alleged to have been involved in planning attacks on American
oil tankers and Navy ships.
Hassan bin Attash's lawyer, David H. Remes, said the
government's claims about the detainees were not credible. He
and other detainees' lawyers say that the government's
accusations have been ever-changing and that much of the
evidence was obtained using techniques he and others have
described as torture. ``You look at all of this stuff, and it
looks terribly scary,'' Mr. Remes said. ``But how do we know
any of it is true?''
The extensive use of secret evidence and information
derived from aggressive interrogations has led critics around
the world to conclude that many detainees were wrongly held.
Nearly seven years after Guantanamo opened its metal gates,
only 18 of the current detainees are facing crimes charges.
While both presidential candidates have said they would
close the detention center, they have not said in detail how
they would handle the remaining detainees.
Mr. McCain has said he would move the Guantanamo detainees
to the United States but has indicated that he would try them
in the Pentagon's commission system established after 9/11.
After the conviction at Guantanamo, last summer of a former
driver for Mr. bin Laden, Mr. McCain said the verdict
``demonstrated that military commissions can effectively
bring very dangerous terrorists to justice.''
Mr. Obama has said that the Bush administration's system of
trying detainees ``has been an enormous failure'' and that
the existing American legal system--trials in either civilian
or military courts--was strong enough to handle the trials of
terrorism suspects.
But in a speech on the Senate floor in 2006, Mr. Obama
suggested that the allegations against many of the detainees
needed to be taken seriously. ``Now the majority of the folks
in Guantanamo, I suspect, are there for a reason,'' he said.
``There are a lot of dangerous people.''
Some of the remaining prisoners have appeared determined to
show how dangerous they are. ``I admit to you it is my honor
to be an enemy of the United States,'' said a Yemeni
detainee, Abdul Rahman Ahmed, a hearing record shows.
Officials said Mr. Ahmed had been trained at a terrorist camp
``how to dress and act at an airport'' and to resist
interrogation.
A Saudi detainee, Muhammed Murdi Issa al Zahrani, was
described by Pentagon officials as a trained assassin who
helped plan the suicide-bomb killing of Ahmed Shah Massoud,
the Afghan rebel leader, on Sept. 9, 2001.
``The detainee said America is ruled by the Jews,'' an
officer said at a hearing after interviewing Mr. Zahrani,
``therefore America and Israel are his enemies.''
One man caught with Abu Zubaydah insisted on his innocence
but described a training camp outside Kabul, Afghanistan,
where, according to information he gave to interrogators, men
were given ``lessons on how to make poisons that could be
inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the skin.''
Mr. bin al Shibh was caught with a group of six Yemenis,
all of whom are still held, after a two-and-a-half-hour gun
battle. The records of those detainees include allegations
that some were ``a special terrorist team deployed to attack
targets in Karachi.'' One of the men, Hail Aziz Ahmad al
Maythal, was trained in the use of rocket-propelled grenade
launchers, machine guns and ``trench digging, disguise
techniques, escape methods, evasion and map reading,''
according to the military's allegations.
The records include many of the murky cases that typify the
image of Guantanamo, where detainees take issue with their
own supposed confessions and, sometimes, their identities.
And those doubts too are to be part of a new administration's
inheritance.
``I was forced to say all these things,'' an Algerian
detainee, Adil Hadi al Jazairi bin Hamlili, said at his
hearing when confronted with his confession to murder and
knowledge of a plot to sell uranium to Al Qaeda. ``I was
abused mentally and psychologically, by threatening to be
raped,'' he said, adding, ``You would say anything.''
Abdul Hafiz, an Afghan accused of killing a Red Cross
worker at a Taliban roadblock in 2003, told a military
officer that he had the perfect alibi. ``The detainee states
again that he is not Abdul Hafiz,'' the officer reported to a
military tribunal.
____________________