[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 170 (Tuesday, November 17, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H13062-H13066]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        9/11 CHANGED EVERYTHING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized 
for 60 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it's a pleasure to be here on the House 
floor, especially when you know the history of this floor and all 
that's been done to keep Americans safe, the reactions on this floor by 
great American leaders after tragedies such as we had after Pearl 
Harbor, when the President of the United States spoke from that lectern 
right there after Pearl Harbor. Before 9/11 that was the worst attack 
on American soil. But 9/11 changed things substantially. For one thing, 
I never thought during my 4 years in the Army, going back to the 1970s, 
that we'd ever see patriotism at a level that it is today, where people 
actually appreciate people being in the service. The Vietnam Vets knew 
what it was like to come home and to be spit at and ridiculed. I know 
when I went through basic at Fort Riley, there was an order not to wear 
our uniforms off post because there was supposedly violence that was 
done. There were people beat up who were in the service.
  But somehow, for a while there, 9/11 brought this Nation together, 
where people began to take notice and care about first responders, and 
they began to care about each other. And on September 12, there on our 
courthouse square in Smith County, Texas, we had people of all walks of 
life join together, a huge group came, and it culminated in everyone 
holding hands and singing God Bless America. And as I looked around, 
there was not one single hyphenated American. We were all just 
Americans, all kinds of races, genders, creed, colors, national 
origins. But we were just Americans.
  Well, after 9/11 we realized that for the first time in our history 
the oceans did not provide the protection that they once did. As an old 
history major at Texas A&M, and continuing to be a student of history 
since, I don't know of another Nation in the history of the world that 
has been so blessed and protected as we were with the Atlantic and the 
Pacific oceans. Even Australia, which was surrounded by water, always 
had to fear invasions. But after the War of 1812, for the most part, we 
didn't have to worry about external threats so much as we were able to 
think about Manifest Destiny, moving and settling the continent, the 
Industrial Revolution, having the effort to make the Constitution mean 
the same for all people, no matter what race, creed, color, gender.
  But 9/11 sent a message that the oceans no longer protected us, that 
we were going to have to take more measures to protect ourselves. I 
recall back in the 1980s it being said that one of the great things 
about the Atlantic and Pacific, if somebody intended to be a suicide 
bomber, they would lose their nerve crossing the ocean. And certainly, 
anybody that moved here and lived among the American people would begin 
to see how much freedom we had here, and they would come to love 
America as we do, and they would not want to blow up their friends and 
neighbors. Again, 9/11 changed all that.
  So if someone doesn't know the lessons from history, then they are 
destined to repeat it, as the old saying goes. Well, the Constitution, 
and I have a pocket Constitution here, article one, section 8, says 
that Congress shall have power to--and one of the things that we have 
the power to do in Congress is constitute tribunals inferior to the 
Supreme Court. And you get over to article three, section one, the 
judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme 
Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to 
time ordain and establish.
  Even the Supreme Court, over in section two, where it's talked about, 
it says in all of the other cases before mentioned the Supreme Court 
shall have appellate jurisdiction, but it's the law in fact, with such 
exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make. So 
the Supreme Court owes its existence to the Constitution. Every single 
other court in America, Federal court that is, owes its existence to 
the Congress. We create the courts. We establish their jurisdictions. 
We have the right to establish their venues. And when we dealt with 
this issue back in 2005 and 2006, of having to deal with terrorists who 
are captured on the foreign battlefield, what do you do with them? You 
certainly don't want to bring them onto American soil, because if you 
did that, there'd be some court that would say, well, they have all the 
rights and privileges of an American citizen, which shouldn't be true, 
but until some court says it's true, and at that time, since we believe 
in following the law, even though some courts do not, they create it 
instead of follow it, we follow even the renegade courts when it's the 
law of the land.
  So, we had to deal with this issue. Following all of the precedents, 
and I believe Justice Scalia does a phenomenal job of discussing 
precedents, as does Chief Justice Roberts in the Bimidian case. But we 
had to deal with people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Khalid Sheikh 
Mohammed was captured in Pakistan on March 1, 2003, by the Pakistani 
ISI. It may have been a joint action with agents of the American 
Diplomatic Security Service, but he's been in U.S. custody ever since 
that time. In September of 2006 the U.S. government announced it had 
moved Mohammed from a secret prison to the facility at Guantanamo Bay 
detention camp.
  Now, some came to believe that Guantanamo is such a horrible place. 
That is where we waterboard people and things like that. The 
waterboarding that apparently occurred, never occurred at Guantanamo. 
That was elsewhere. Guantanamo Bay is a place I've been a couple of 
times. And, having been a judge, I've had the opportunity to explore 
and tour many different types of prisons.

                              {time}  1945

  Attending a tour of the Guantanamo Bay facility was not unusual 
except that it is unusual to get there. You don't take a commercial 
flight to Guantanamo Bay, which is one of the reasons it's such an 
ideal spot for people who are a threat to our way of life.
  We have also Ramzi bin Al-Shib who was captured by Pakistani forces 
in Pakistan around September of 2002. He was transferred to Guantanamo 
Bay, Cuba, on or about September 26 where he also has remained.
  You have other people being detained there that we know have been 
self-confessed terrorists and under the pleading that was filed by 
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as he said, ``We're terrorists to the bone, and 
if we terrorize you, kill you,'' basically, ``thanks be to God.''
  These are people who do not believe we should have the freedoms that 
we do in America because they think freedom ultimately leads to 
degradation of the individual and the country. Therefore, people should 
not be allowed freedom, they should be told what they can or can't do; 
and they believe that they get a special place in Paradise if they are 
able to go out in this life having destroyed and killed what we 
consider innocents and what they consider infidels.
  So we come to the announcement by the U.S. Attorney General when he 
announced that the Department of Justice will pursue prosecution in 
Federal

[[Page H13063]]

court of five individuals accused of conspiring to commit 9/11 attacks. 
He said further, ``I've decided to refer back to the Department of 
Defense five defendants to face military commission trials, including 
the detainee who was previously charged in the USS Cole bombing. The 9/
11 cases that will be pursued in Federal court have been jointly 
assigned to prosecutors from the Southern District of New York and the 
Eastern District of Virginia and will be brought in Manhattan in the 
Southern District of New York.''
  He goes on and ends up saying, ``In each case, my decision as to 
whether to proceed in Federal court or military commissions was based 
on a protocol that the Department of Justice and Defense developed, and 
it was announced in July. Because many cases could be prosecuted in 
either Federal courts or military commissions, that protocol sets forth 
a number of factors, including the nature of the offense, the location 
in which the offense occurred, the identity of the victims, and the 
manner in which the case was investigated that must be considered. In 
consultation with the Secretary of Defense, I have looked at all of the 
relevant factors and made case-by-case decisions for each detainee.''
  Well, it wouldn't seem that he has considered the safety and the best 
interests of the people that survived the attack on 9/11 in New York 
City, the most densely populated area in our country.
  In 2005, 2006, this Congress considered these issues--and I would 
submit gave it better consideration than our current Attorney General--
and when the Bush administration had formulated a military tribunal 
system without the input from Congress, it was struck down, and 
rightfully so. So Congress got involved. Now we have the Military 
Commissions Act that was passed in 2006.
  The Obama administration did not like the term applied to the enemy 
combatants that were captured on the battlefield around the world who 
had made efforts and participated in the murder and destruction of 
American lives and American property. So, the way that bill was 
amended, it now reads ``any alien unprivileged enemy belligerent is 
subject to trial by military commission as set forth in this chapter.''
  You have to look back.
  Alien. The term ``alien'' means an individual who is not a citizen of 
the United States. You look at unprivileged enemy belligerent. The term 
``unprivileged enemy belligerent'' means an individual other than a 
privileged belligerent who, A, has engaged in hostilities against the 
United States or its coalition partners; B, has purposefully and 
materially supported hostilities against the United States or its 
coalition partners; or C, was a part of al Qaeda at the time of the 
alleged offense under this chapter.
  The term ``hostilities'' means any conflicts subject to the laws of 
war.
  As it says in 948(h), Military commissions under this chapter may be 
convened by the Secretary of Defense or by any officer or official of 
the United States designated by the Secretary for that purpose. 
Unfortunately, the Attorney General has elected to bring self-confessed 
terrorists to New York City.
  I did want to walk people through what it takes to prepare a case for 
trial from a judge's standpoint, from a logistical standpoint. All 
evidence has to be transported by different individuals, whoever may 
have it, to the courthouse so it can be used as evidence there--
sometimes it's held in different places--but eventually to the 
courthouse. Normally you have to keep a very careful chain of custody 
on any evidence, but unfortunately, this is from a battlefield where in 
order to get the official chain of custody started, our soldiers in 
harm's way would have to walk out in the middle of hostilities--perhaps 
there are bullets flying--and say, ``Time out. I want to gather 
evidence that we may need to use some day in a civilian court because 
we have a President or Attorney General who wants me to go out in 
harm's way and gather fingerprint, the forensic evidence that may be 
used in establishing the chain of custody, never mind that it may get 
me killed trying to gather such evidence forensically on a 
battlefield,'' which we have never done before. It's never been 
necessary because people who were leaders in this country knew enough 
about the history of the country to avoid putting our men and women at 
additional risk in order to try people who wanted to kill us and 
destroy our way of life into a civil court, a civilian court. It just 
hasn't been done. It was not appropriate.
  Now this is an unusual war, of course, because although the 
individuals who have planned, participated in killing American citizens 
through the 9/11 terrorist attacks, they declared war on us but we 
didn't officially declare war on them because they're not actually 
a country, which makes it more difficult. But make no mistake, war has 
been declared on the United States, and either we respond by fighting 
back in this war or the war with terror goes on from the terrorists 
until they win. It becomes a very one-sided war until eventually we 
either lose the country out of fear or terror or the American citizens 
decide, Gee, the risk is so great, let's just make our President king 
and go to a dictatorship because so often in history, people prefer a 
dictatorship or a king or a Caesar if they can assure that they're 
going to be better protected.

  That is why I decided since it didn't appear that the best of 
judgment had been used in wanting to bring terrorists who said they 
participated and planned the 9/11 attacks--they just hoped to kill a 
lot more than 3,000 people and perhaps had hoped to kill tens of 
thousands of people if the buildings had collapsed sooner--it seems to 
me we needed to fix this.
  So we are working on the language--hope to file it tomorrow, no later 
than Thursday--that will make this mandatory: that any alien 
unprivileged enemy belligerent shall be exclusively subject to trial by 
military commission as set forth in this chapter, words along that 
line, so that it is not an option for people who do not understand the 
risk to which they put American citizens.
  Once you gather the evidence, once you have the terrorists in New 
York City, I would expect that is probably strategically when the 
defense attorneys would file a motion to change venue. Of course, the 
terrorists may want to keep it in New York City even though they might 
allege they couldn't get a fair trial because perhaps every single 
person in New York City eligible for jury duty might have heard about 
9/11 and may have drawn opinions about what happened that day, it is a 
better place for terrorists to remain and be held and drag out a very 
long, sustained trial. Because as you find if you have been around the 
judicial system, if a defendant has access to tremendous amounts of 
money, then you can expect them to call expert after expert after 
expert. And yes, Federal judges can rein in the number of experts, but 
if they're creative enough, they may be able to come up with enough 
experts to drag this thing out.
  And, of course, we have the rules in Federal court as State courts as 
well that the judge has to be the gatekeeper of what experts will be 
allowed to testify. They have to be found to be competent in the area 
to which they are going to testify. And so the judge may have weeks and 
weeks and weeks of hearings on whether an expert will be allowed to 
testify. There may be weeks and weeks and weeks of hearings regarding 
change of venue evidence and whether the case should be transferred, 
and if so, where it could be transferred where a fair trial could be 
had.
  Amazing, but some of these things I do not believe got adequate 
consideration before action was taken.
  So we have terrorists who are going to be brought to New York, 
perhaps some to Illinois. As they're awaiting trial, the thing gets 
dragged out, perhaps the friends of the terrorists--because we know 
people can get into this country illegally. We know people have come in 
legally, overstayed their visas, and we are not enforcing visa 
terminations adequately. So they could have friends here illegally. 
They could have people here legally. But you can bet they are going to 
be testing out the adequacy of the court system in which their 
terrorist buddies are being tried. And having read the pleading by 
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that they intend to terrorize us, they intend to 
defeat us, to destroy us, then their friends will be looking for such a 
way to do that.
  What better way than in the most densely populated area in this 
country to have some terrorist threats go on? And what you normally 
have when the

[[Page H13064]]

terrorist threats go on is evacuations, and that's when it is extremely 
helpful to have a community organizer in the White House because you 
will need lots of community organization in order to adequately 
evacuate massive areas of the most densely populated area in America, 
as the threats will likely be coming.
  I have seen them happen in my own courthouse when I was a judge. I 
normally didn't evacuate. I had that luxury since I could order the 
deputies to leave me alone. But you will have those types of things.
  Can we be sure that there will not be a truck, a vehicle, loaded with 
explosives to perhaps commit some act of terrorism in one of the 
tunnels? Or a vehicle. You could have a number of vehicles coming 
through the tunnel, coming across the bridges, loaded with explosives. 
Things to instill fear in the minds of American citizens.

                              {time}  2000

  Apparently these terrorists enjoy seeing Americans flee in fear. We 
have had an evacuation here a couple of times since I have been in 
Congress. My brother called after the first time since I have been here 
and said, I didn't see you running out of the Capitol on video. I said, 
Perhaps that is because I was the last one out. I would rather be 
killed by a terrorist than to have them see legislators running in fear 
because there is some terrorist threat to the Capitol. Just take me 
out. I know where I am going when this life is over, so I am not 
terribly worried about what happens in the interim.
  Back to the trial. Those kinds of acts, those kinds of threats could 
normally be expected during the course of a trial. And as the trial 
goes on, you think about the jailers who are maintaining a watch on the 
terrorists in New York City. Think about their families. Maybe their 
immediate family, their wife, their children, or if it is a female, 
their husband and their children. Think about perhaps even their mother 
or father, siblings. Who will be safe, because you know as much 
research as went in so carefully to the planning and the destruction of 
the World Trade Centers, that planning will likely go into the next 
terrorist attack, and what better time than when terrorists are on 
trial in New York, because to their warped, distorted way of thinking, 
what a great time to be blown up with all of these infidels surrounding 
them in New York City--infidels to them, innocents who deserve 
protection to the rest of us.
  So as you get through the trial, you have not only the jailers, you 
have bailiffs, you have jailers who transport them. You have people 
working on the vehicles that will transport them. You have people 
working on perhaps air cover and working on the aircraft that will 
provide air cover, if any. You will have people who will be in those 
vehicles and aircraft. You have people all along the way, and every 
single person is a potential link that may be exploited by terrorists, 
either of their families or of those individuals, because these 
individuals intend to scare us and to show that we can do them no harm, 
but they can sure scare us. So what better opportunity.
  During the course of the trial, of course, it is a daily thing to 
transport prisoners back and forth from the courtroom. You have people 
all over the courthouse. It may be more restricted during the trial, 
but it is really difficult to restrict the ongoing business in New York 
City. And especially since, as I read, the Attorney General says they 
intend to have them brought in Manhattan in the Southern District of 
New York, to Manhattan itself. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
  So there are a lot of people who are at risk, including the people in 
New York City. And in case someone, Mr. Speaker, is tempted to think, 
``Well, this is 2009; that occurred September of 2001. I am sure those 
people have gotten over the panic, the fear, the trauma, the tragedy of 
that horrible day on 9/11,'' well, you don't have to go very far back 
and recall the insensitivity of this administration in having Air Force 
One fly over New York, accompanied by a fighter jet, which caused a 
sheer panic, as some may have seen on You Tube, among citizens in New 
York because they thought it is happening again and a fighter may have 
to shoot down Air Force One. It was unbelievable insensitivity, and as 
some may recall, at least one person lost their job over it.
  It won't take much to start the panic all over again. The 
insensitivity is just amazing, just amazing.
  So we are told, in addition, not only should we bring these 
terrorists to New York City, the most densely populated area in the 
country, but we should keep in mind that we are one of the largest 
Muslim Nations in the world, that we are not a Christian Nation.
  I can't help but in this hallowed Hall, this incredible historic 
building, go back to the painting of George Washington down the hall as 
he extended his resignation, and the end of it, the resignation, after 
he had won the revolution, as he resigned, which was something which 
had never before or since been done in the history of mankind, lead a 
revolution and military, win, and then just go home after you did your 
job. Washington was an extraordinary man.
  At the end of his resignation, he says, ``I now make it my earnest 
prayer''--that's right, prayer--``that God would have you and the State 
over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline 
the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and 
obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love 
for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at 
large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the 
field,'' which is what we just did on Veterans Day. These are 
Washington's own words that he wrote in his resignation at the end. 
``And finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us 
all, to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with 
charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the 
characteristics of the divine author of our blessed religion, and 
without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can 
never hope to be a happy Nation.''
  And he signed, ``I have the honor to be with great respect and esteem 
Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant, George 
Washington.''
  That was our first President, our first Commander in Chief. Those 
were his words. That is what he thought. He thought we had a divine 
author of our blessed religion. He didn't know what our current 
President knows, apparently.
  Out here we have a painting right outside, a massive painting of the 
Constitutional Convention. After nearly 5 weeks of accomplishing 
virtually nothing, Benjamin Franklin, 80 years old, about 2 and a half 
years away from meeting his maker, brilliant, witty, charming, quite 
the man, stood up and he was recognized.
  He said we have been going for nearly 5 weeks. We have more noes than 
ayes know. He said, ``In this situation of this assembly,'' and we know 
these were his words taken by James Madison, ``groping as it were in 
the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it 
when presented to us, how does it happen, sir, that we have not 
hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to 
illuminate understanding? In the beginning contest with Great Britain, 
when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for 
the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and they were 
graciously usually answered.

  ``All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed 
frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that 
kind of providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace 
on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we 
now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need 
his assistance?''
  See, this was during the founding, the creation of the Constitution. 
The Founders felt like it was okay to pray to God for divine protection 
and they were not worried if that insulted someone because it is what 
they believed.
  Franklin stated, ``All of us who were engaged in the struggle must 
have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our 
favor.'' He believed God was answering our prayers.
  Anyway he goes on and says, ``I have lived, sir, a long time, and the 
longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God 
governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot

[[Page H13065]]

fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire 
can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred 
writing, that `except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that 
build it.'
  ``Firmly believe this,'' Benjamin Franklin said. He went on and said, 
``I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in 
this political building no better than the Builders of Babel. We shall 
be divided by our little partial local interest; our projects will be 
confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down 
to future ages. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers 
imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our 
deliberations, be held in the assembly every morning.''
  It was seconded and unanimously adopted. From that day to this, we do 
not begin in this Chamber, or prior when the Congress met in other 
chambers, we don't meet without starting with prayer, without 
apologies.
  You go on to Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest theological 
discussions, and this came from a man who basically was self-educated, 
well read, self-taught, voracious reader, but he loved reading the 
Bible. He believed in God as indicated throughout his writings. And as 
he tried to reconcile the horrible, bloody Civil War that had gone on, 
profound words he wrote. As he wrestled--you can feel the inner 
conflict in himself when he tries to reconcile the North and South 
fighting, brother against brother, family member against family 
member--he said these words that are inscribed on the north side of the 
Lincoln Memorial, ``Both read the same Bible and prayer to the same 
God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange 
that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing 
their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, 
that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That 
of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purpose. 
`Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that 
offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.'
  ``If we shall suppose,'' Lincoln said ``that American slavery is one 
of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but 
which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to 
remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as 
the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein 
any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a 
living God always ascribe to Him?
  ``Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge 
of war may speedily pass away.''

                              {time}  2015

  Lincoln continued: ``Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all 
the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of 
unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with 
the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 
three thousand years ago, so still it must be said `the judgments of 
the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
  ``With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the 
right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the 
work we are in, to bind up the Nation's wounds, to care for him who 
shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all 
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves 
and with all nations.''
  ``To bind up the Nation's wounds''? Does anyone think that we do that 
by bringing terrorists back to instill more terror in an area where the 
wounds have not yet been bound up and have not yet healed? It's a 
terrible mistake being made. A terrible mistake being made. And it may 
gain some knowing nods and smiles at some international cocktail party 
where members of this administration may go and say, see, we brought 
terrorists back to New York City, back to the most densely populated 
area. We inflicted upon ourselves even more terror. Aren't we 
wonderful? Self-flagellation, aren't we great? We beat ourselves up. 
Don't you love us?
  We've seen there is no appreciation in the world when the United 
States hurts itself either by spending too much money or by opening its 
doors to terrorists who want to destroy our way of life and we do 
nothing about it until it's too late.
  We're dealing with the PATRIOT Act. And I've had severe concerns 
about the national security letters when we found out that they were 
being abused under Director Mueller's watchful eye. But it needs to be 
reauthorized. There needs to be greater oversight than there was. There 
have been corrections made, but there are some protections in that act 
that have afforded us the ability to stay without a major terrorist 
attack for 8 years. This is no time to open ourselves up to additional 
terror by bringing terrorists on our soil, potentially allowing them to 
go free on our soil, potentially allowing them to go free anywhere.
  They declared war. The tradition and the history of mankind is when 
you are from a group that declares war on another people, another 
country, and you're captured, you remain captured. You remain a 
prisoner until such time as your friends cease the war. And there is no 
intent to cease the war on behalf of the terrorists, as we have seen.
  There are those who think that this administration is trying to 
create a situation where there is more damage and destruction 
financially, perhaps, through terrorists so they have to declare 
martial law and take over. I don't believe that for a moment. I just 
think there is a terrible lapse in judgment that may allow those things 
to happen.
  But you go back to Thomas Jefferson. He said, ``The natural progress 
of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.'' You 
had John Adams, who said, ``Property must be secured or liberty cannot 
exist.''
  We helped secure property when we kept the terrorists who want to 
destroy our way of life off of American soil over in the Middle East 
and then in the last 2 or 3 years at Guantanamo Bay.
  Of course, Washington said, ``Government is not reason. It is not 
eloquence. It is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a 
fearful master.''
  Of course, Abraham Lincoln went on to say, ``We have been the 
recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven.'' Lincoln went on and he 
said, ``We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other 
nation.'' Lincoln finished his comment by saying, ``But we have 
forgotten God.''
  We are creating self-inflicted wounds and it's time to stop. And 
hopefully we will have enough people on both sides of the aisle who 
will sign on to this bipartisan bill. I'm hoping it will be very 
bipartisan because Congress, as I have already read, has the obligation 
to set up all the courts inferior to the Supreme Court to set out their 
jurisdiction, set out their venue in the collective wisdom of this 
place.
  And if we have a Chief Executive who's not aware of the coming damage 
and destruction that may occur by bringing people to the most densely 
populated area in the country in which to try them and have their 
friends try to destroy the trial itself, then it is the duty of this 
body to step up and say, you know, hey, under the Constitution this is 
our job. We're supposed to create the courts so you know where to try 
them. And we're going to eliminate the choice that you now have so that 
you put them in the right place. That's what should be done. That's 
what we need to pass. That's what the Congress was supposed to do 
according to the Constitution.
  But we have already seen this year when Congress punted and when the 
Supreme Court punted. And so unelected, unconfirmed people meeting in 
secret as part of the White House decided what businesses would fall in 
the auto business, what would gain. They destroyed all the years of 
bankruptcy law, all the incredible wisdom that came together in the 
bankruptcy law, and turned it upside down.
  Secured creditors were treated like dirt. Unsecured creditors were 
catapulted, because it involved unions, to the top. Turned the law 
upside down.
  Well, that shouldn't have been allowed to stand. The Founders wanted 
us to step up and utilize the power that they gave this body. So you 
had dealerships, and in some places they had borrowed millions of 
dollars to buy the dealership, and all of a sudden some people that 
didn't even own cars were saying, you know what, close their 
dealership, maybe even give it to somebody down the road. And those 
people

[[Page H13066]]

were left owing their banks the money they borrowed because some 
unelected, unconfirmed bureaucrat said this is the way we're going to 
do it. Oh, yes, well, of course, they did have to run into a lazy 
bankruptcy court's judge. Maybe he's not lazy; maybe he's just 
ambitious, who would sign off on that and give it the color of law.
  But some may not know bankruptcy judges have to stand for 
reappointment, and many bankruptcy judges hope that they will invoke 
the favor of a President who will elevate them to a Federal district 
bench for life rather than on the bankruptcy court. And that has 
happened before many, many times.
  But Congress stood mute and let the Constitution be turned upside 
down, let the laws that this body passed be turned upside down. So then 
the last hope of all the checks and balances put in place by our 
Founders was the Supreme Court. And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, to her 
credit, put a 24-hour hold on that fiasco, that abomination under the 
laws of the United States and the Constitution. But she withdrew it, or 
it died at the end of the 24 hours, and all checks and balances on 
power were avoided, and we did exactly what the Founders hoped would 
never happen: we ignored the power of all the different branches so 
that one unelected, unappointed group could just run things as they 
wanted.
  We can't let that type of action happen again here. We created the 
military commissions in this Congress under our authority of the 
Constitution. It is our obligation as a Congress to step in and protect 
the people of New York from the terrorism that will in all likelihood 
flow. And if you don't believe it, then go read the unclassified 
pleading filed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. If you don't believe that 
they mean harm, then you can check out the accounts of what goes on at 
Guantanamo.
  What we have seen, found out in trips to Guantanamo Bay, shows that 
these guys are being treated better than prisoners I've ever seen in 
State or Federal prison in Texas and in other Federal prisons in the 
country, maximum security prisons, that is. They're fed well. They get 
several hours a day outside. They are given movie hours to watch 
movies.
  In fact, one of the biggest problems at Guantanamo is not for the 
prisoners but comes from the prisoners. They are so brilliant and 
innovative, they figure out ways to throw urine and feces on our 
guards. But the standing order at Guantanamo, as told by the commander 
to me, the standing order is whoever has urine or feces thrown on them 
from one of the inmates may go and shower and change and take the rest 
of the day off. But to my knowledge, nobody has taken the rest of the 
day off. They go shower, clean up, and then they come back to duty.
  I was told that there was one servicemember who, from having feces 
thrown on him, actually lost his temper and yelled at the inmate, and 
for that he received an article 15 punishment for losing his temper 
after he had body excrement thrown on him.
  When I have tried to find out if there wasn't some way to punish the 
prisoners who commit those types of assaults on our guards, I'm told 
that because there are so many international visitors, including Red 
Cross or whatever groups, come, Amnesty International, the groups that 
come, they come often enough that the people at Guantanamo did not want 
for these groups to come and find they put somebody in solitary 
confinement, despite the physical assaults. So there is no real 
punishment that is inflicted upon inmates that commit assaults on 
guards.
  But, in fact, they may take a couple of their 4 hours of movie 
watching away; and if it's a bad enough assault on one of our guards, 
they may take away some of their time outside, which the inmates enjoy, 
of course, very much, and they get more of than most any prison that 
I've been to, maximum security prison.

                              {time}  2030

  A maximum security prison, that is what we are dealing with in 
Guantanamo. People are well taken care of. But they are dangerous, and 
they want to destroy our way of life. And until their buddies declare 
that the war is over, we ought to continue to maintain them and keep 
them locked up away from American soil. And if the administration is 
absolutely intent on trying them before their buddies cease this war 
upon America, then it ought to be before a military commission, as 
Congress created in 2006 and has been amended even this year at the 
request of this administration.
  So that's why I'm going to be filing a bill and asking, Mr. Speaker, 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to please join in. Let's protect 
the families of victims of 9/11 in New York from having to endure this 
insufferable blow of having smirking, happy terrorists come to New York 
and gloat over this destruction and death they caused there. They do 
not deserve to gloat over the deaths and destruction they brought to 
New York City. They do not deserve to gloat over the destruction and 
death in Washington, D.C.
  They deserve to be kept confined for the rest of their natural lives, 
but at least until their buddies say they are no longer at war, and 
they all give up, and then we can pound our swords into plowshares. 
Until that time, this body owes a duty to American citizens to protect 
it, to see that the administration doesn't subject it to unnecessary 
harm.
  So with that, Mr. Speaker, I will yield back the balance of my time.

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