[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 69 (Wednesday, May 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5169-S5170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            GUANTANAMO PLAN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it should be clear to everyone at this 
point that the administration got ahead of itself by announcing an 
arbitrary closing date for Guantanamo before it even drew up a list of 
safe alternatives. So I rise this morning to express my continuing 
concerns about the administration's apparent lack of a plan for 
detainees at this facility and to press the administration for answers 
on a number of important questions.
  Over the past 2 weeks, I and others have asked the Attorney General 
to provide the American people with the assurance that closing 
Guantanamo will keep the American people as safe as Guantanamo has. We 
have asked a series of questions. So far these questions have gone 
unanswered. But the questions remain.
  Which detainees will be released or transferred overseas?
  How do we know these men will not return to the battlefield?
  Will they be tried in American courts or will we use military 
commissions?

[[Page S5170]]

  Will any be sent to U.S. soil, even though the Senate voted against 
it 94 to 3?
  Finally, what legal basis does the administration have to release 
trained terrorists into the U.S.?
  Americans want answers. Unfortunately, the administration seems more 
comfortable discussing its plans for the inmates at Guantanamo with a 
European audience than it is discussing these details with Americans.
  Senator Sessions wrote a letter to the Attorney General weeks before 
his trip to Europe asking about the legality of releasing trained 
terrorists into the U.S. He sent another one to the same effect on 
Monday. He still has not heard back.
  During the same trip, Attorney General Holder talked specifics about 
Guantanamo with European leaders. He said that the administration has 
identified 30 detainees at Guantanamo who are ready for release and 
that he would ``be reaching out to specific countries with specific 
detainees.'' And according to reports, the administration has presented 
at least one country with a list of detainees it would like that 
country to accept.
  Americans want to know that on the issue of Guantanamo the 
administration is as concerned about safety as it is about symbolism. 
They are concerned about the administration's plans for releasing or 
transferring some of the most dangerous terrorists alive. They want to 
know that these terrorists will not end up back on the battlefield or 
in their backyards.
  At the very least, they should know as much about the 
administration's plans for these men as our European critics do.
  So this morning I would like to ask the Attorney General to provide 
Congress with any information he has provided to foreign governments 
about his plans for detainees at Guantanamo. If the administration will 
not relate its plans to the American people or their representatives in 
Congress, it should at least relate the details of its conversations on 
this issue with foreign leaders. This is not too much to ask.

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