[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 10, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6478-S6479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GUANTANAMO BAY

  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, next I rise to speak about the 
terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay naval facility, or Gitmo. There 
are over 240 terrorists in U.S. custody at the military detention 
facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, today. Let me describe some of the 
individuals who reside at Guantanamo.
  First, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, or KSM, is the self-proclaimed and 
quite unapologetic mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. KSM admitted he was 
the planner of 9/11 and other planned, but foiled, attacks against the 
United States. In his combatant status review board, he admitted that 
he swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden, was a member of al-Qaida, was 
the military operational commander for all foreign al-Qaida operations, 
and much more. KSM and four other detainees who are charged with 
conspiring to commit terrible 9/11 attacks remain at Guantanamo today. 
In addition, Gitmo houses Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who was responsible 
for the October 2000 USS Cole bombing which murdered 17 U.S. sailors 
and injured 37 others. Also residing at Gitmo are Osama bin Laden's 
personal bodyguards, al-Qaida's terrorist camp trainers, al-Qaida bomb 
makers, and individuals picked up on the battlefield with weapons 
trying to kill American soldiers--our young men and women who 
patriotically serve their country. The detainees at Guantanamo are some 
of the most senior, hardened, and dangerous al-Qaida figures we have 
captured.
  In May, just 3 weeks ago, the Senate voted 90 to 6 to prohibit any of 
these hardened terrorists from being brought to the United States. 
Despite this clear objection, the administration transferred one 
detainee, Ahmed Ghailani, to New York City yesterday. He is facing 
charges in the Southern District of New York for his role in the August 
7, 1998, bombings of two U.S. Embassies in Africa.
  Some of my colleagues in the Senate have touted this as an example of 
how we can bring criminal charges against the Gitmo detainees and try 
them in our courts. However, no one has pointed out that Ghailani was 
indicted on

[[Page S6479]]

March 12, 2001, a full 6 months prior to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 
and after a full investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 
The case against Ghailani was built long before he was transferred to 
Gitmo in 2006. To imply that other detainees, many of whom the FBI has 
never investigated or collected evidence against, may similarly be 
prosecuted in U.S. courts is naive.
  The President, in announcing the closing of Guantanamo Bay in January 
of this year, failed to come forward with a plan to tell the American 
people what he intended to do with the rest of the remaining prisoners 
being held in that facility. Americans are outraged about the fact that 
there is now the potential for those individuals to be transferred to 
the United States and the possibility that some of them may be released 
into American society.
  The reaction of the administration to the outcry from the American 
people and to the outcry from Members of this body has been: Well, we 
are going to work this out. We are going to get people to take these 
individuals.
  Well, needless to say, the previous administration had been trying to 
get folks to allow the return of their countrymen who are housed at 
Guantanamo for years, and they were not successful. That is why we 
still have 241 detainees at Guantanamo.

  Yesterday, there was an announcement that 17 Uighurs, or Chinese 
terrorists, are going to be sent to the country of Palau. I doubt there 
are many Americans who can even tell you where Palau is. It turns out 
it is a country containing many islands somewhere out in the Pacific, 
not far from the Philippines.
  In order to get Palau to take these 17 Uighurs, the Obama 
administration has committed to paying that country $200 million or, if 
my calculation is correct, about $11,764,705 per individual. A pretty 
good payment for taking these prisoners.
  If that is the standard we are going to be using and the precedent we 
are now setting, you can figure the numbers to look at how much money 
it is going to cost us to transfer these remaining prisoners to other 
countries.
  Guantanamo is a symbolic issue for many people around the world. I am 
not one who is going to stand here and say we should not close it. 
Obviously, there should be some long-range plan to get us out of 
Guantanamo and to ultimately close it. But without the administration 
coming forward with a plan, the American people are deservedly outraged 
at the fact that these individuals may be transferred to criminal 
facilities in the United States. They, thus, become eligible for all 
rights of individuals who are housed on U.S. domestic soil, including 
the right of habeas corpus, and, thus, because not in every case have 
our soldiers been able to look a guy in the eye who has a rifle in his 
hand and who is shooting at him, but they are able to disarm him and 
take the weapon away from him, they don't have the opportunity to 
gather evidence on the battlefield and to bag up all that evidence and 
take the time to write down names of witnesses who saw the activity on 
the battlefield. So there is the potential that some of these 
individuals might ultimately be successful in a habeas corpus action, 
be set free by some judge in a U.S. court and, thus, be eligible to be 
ingratiated into U.S. society.
  A couple weeks ago, I filed a bill in the Senate which prohibits, No. 
1, any detainee at Guantanamo from being transferred to the United 
States. The administration has already breached that, and that is why 
it is more important than ever we consider this bill.
  But more importantly, if the President exercises other powers that he 
has outside of what may be even enacted into law, constitutional powers 
he may have, and brings these individuals into the United States, my 
bill will prohibit any opportunity for any of these individuals who are 
now housed at Guantanamo from ever being released into the society of 
the United States.
  I sought to get this bill up as an amendment to the supplemental, 
but, unfortunately, my friends on the other side of the aisle saw it in 
a different way and would not let my amendment come up. We are going to 
be back. We are going to have this bill up either as a standalone bill 
or as an amendment at the next opportunity to make sure we do 
everything we can as Members of the Senate who voted 90 to 6 to not 
bring these individuals from Guantanamo to the United States, to again 
have the opportunity to vote on this issue and to make sure that not 
only do we not bring them here, but that if by some quirk the President 
decides we ought to bring them here and does so, then there is never 
the opportunity for those individuals to be released into the United 
States, into any of our communities, irrespective of where they may 
reside.
  I simply will close tonight and say this is a very serious issue 
that, in fact, is being considered by the conferees tonight, I 
understand, on the supplemental that we voted on a couple weeks ago. 
The language that was agreed to by that 90-to-6 vote may be in 
jeopardy. Democrats may be trying to pull that particular provision out 
of the supplemental and to, thereby, not have language in there that 
would prohibit these individuals from coming into our country.
  I think that is certainly against the will of the American people, it 
is certainly against the will of the Senate in a big way, and I think 
would be a huge mistake.
  I look forward to continuing the debate on this issue. I look forward 
to our bill coming up, either in the form of a standalone bill or in 
the form of an amendment because this is an issue that is not going 
away until we figure out a way to deal with these individuals who are 
incarcerated at Guantanamo in a lawful manner as enemy combatants and 
that we figure out a way to deal with them on a long-term basis that 
ultimately will allow us to leave Guantanamo and close that facility.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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