[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 161 (Monday, November 2, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H12144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 YEMEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
  To meet the President's deadline for closing Guantanamo, there has 
been a rush during the past 2 months to transfer as many detainees as 
possible to their home countries, or to a third country that would 
accept them.
  On September 26, the administration announced that a detainee named 
Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed was transferred to Yemen. The announcement did 
not reveal the terms of his transfer but said the United States has 
coordinated with the Yemeni Government to ensure that the transfer took 
place under, quote, appropriate security measures.
  There is an ongoing and very real concern about detainees returning 
to terrorism. According to data from the Department of Defense, at 
least 15 percent of former Guantanamo detainees have returned to 
terrorist activity. The 15 percent that have returned to terrorism 
following release were merely those detainees who were perceived to be 
low security risks. That's why they were released years ago. The 
detainees pending release now are the worst of the worst. Their 
recidivism rate may be much higher than 15 percent.

  If these detainees are to be transferred, they should go only to 
governments that are willing and able to try, detain, rehabilitate or 
monitor them. Yemen does not meet that standard. An economic crisis, 
domestic security challenges, and Islamic terrorism are right now 
threatening to overwhelm the Yemeni Government. The FBI director 
recently highlighted Yemen as an area of persistent al Qaeda activity. 
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula openly advertises their intent to 
attack the United States and our overseas interests, and is able to 
work in relative freedom in Yemen. Counterterrorism measures in Saudi 
Arabia have forced extremists to seek refuge abroad, and many have 
relocated to Yemen's ungoverned areas. Known al Qaeda terrorists, 
including USS Cole bombers, have escaped from prison in Yemen to return 
to terrorism. The Christian Science Monitor reported last month of the 
rising threat to Saudi Arabia from the deteriorating security situation 
in Yemen. Saudi police prevented a bomb attack on October 13, and one 
of the perpetrators was a former Guantanamo detainee who entered the 
country from Yemen.
  The bottom line is that terrorist detainees should not be sent to 
Yemen where al Qaeda operates freely and the government appears unable 
to control their actions and movements. Reuters has reported that the 
Obama administration has already cleared 75 of the remaining detainees 
for transfer abroad, and that includes 26 detainees from Yemen. Based 
on what we know, this administration is planning to send more, perhaps 
many more, detainees to this lawless country, increasing the risk of 
future terrorist attacks on Americans.
  The administration should immediately terminate the return of 
detainees to Yemen, and the congressional committees of jurisdiction 
should investigate and demand a full justification. The release of any 
detainee to Yemen represents a potentially dangerous threat to the 
United States and U.S. citizens, both military and civilian.
  As of now, the administration has gone down a dangerous road, and 
Congress is idly allowing them to make these misguided decisions.

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