[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 70 (Thursday, May 7, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S5252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            GUANTANAMO: ANOTHER DAY OF UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, for the past several weeks, 
Republicans in Congress have expressed serious concerns about the 
administration's insistence on closing Guantanamo before it has a safe 
alternative. These concerns are rooted, among other things, in the fact 
that roughly 10 percent of the detainees who have already been released 
from Guantanamo have returned to the field of battle. These concerns 
are rooted in the fact that the administration has talked about 
releasing some of these trained terrorists into the United States--not 
into detention facilities but directly into our communities. These 
concerns are rooted in the fact that Americans like the fact that we 
have not been attacked at home here since 9/11, and they do not want 
the terrorists at Guantanamo back on the battlefield and certainly not 
in their backyards.
  These concerns are real. Yet all we have gotten from the 
administration on this issue is silence.
  Five weeks ago, Senator Sessions sent the Attorney General a letter 
asking what legal authority the administration has to release trained 
terrorists into the United States. He sent another letter asking the 
same question earlier this week. In response, he has gotten silence. 
Senator McCain and Senator Graham wrote an op-ed yesterday asking 
serious questions about what the administration plans to do with the 
detainees it releases or transfers from Guantanamo. We have not heard 
anything in reply.
  These are not academic questions we are asking. When Americans hear 
about a former detainee named Said Ali al-Shihri, who was last seen 
serving as one of al-Qaida's top deputies in Yemen, calling on his 
Somali comrades to increase attacks on Americans ships, they have 
reason to be concerned. When Americans hear about a former detainee who 
was last seen serving as the Taliban's operational commander in 
southern Afghanistan, they have reason to be concerned. These are just 
a couple of the men previously deemed safe for transfer. They are 
living proof that the dangers of closing Guantanamo without a safe 
alternative are absolutely real. Yet all we get from the administration 
is a request for funds to close Guantanamo. Does the administration 
really think Congress will appropriate these funds before it presents 
us with a plan that keeps the American people as safe as Guantanamo 
has? The administration needs to explain its actions to the American 
people and their representatives in Congress. And Republicans will 
continue to ask these questions until they do.

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