[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 19, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H170-H171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           DON'T LET THEM FLY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, an al Qaeda jihadist committed an 
act of war over the skies of Detroit on Christmas Day. Umar Farouk 
Abdulmutallab, working with al Qaeda in Yemen, sewed explosives into 
his underwear. He tried to blow up the plane over Detroit, but the 
detonator failed and the terrorist was captured by passengers. Counting 
on faulty detonators is not a sound national security policy. We should 
be stopping terrorists from boarding planes in the first place.
  The underwear bomber got on the plane with a valid United States 
visa. Even though he was on a terrorist watch list, he boarded a plane 
for the U.S. anyway. After the 9/11 attacks, the State Department was 
ordered to open visa security units at all of our embassies. Eight 
years later, only 14 of the 220 American embassies have visa security 
units. Why is that?
  The underwear bomber got his U.S. visa in London. He got to keep his 
visa even though his father told our embassy in Nigeria that his son 
was a dangerous radical. American embassies in London and Nigeria don't 
have a visa security unit. And when the bomber's own father told us he 
was dangerous, the information was ignored by our State Department.

  The underwear bomber paid cash for a ticket, had no luggage, and he 
was on that watch list. The United States State Department was warned 
by the bomber's father that he was a threat. He had even previously 
been denied entry into the United Kingdom because he applied for a visa 
to go to a college that doesn't exist in the United Kingdom. But U.S. 
authorities let him fly the friendly skies anyway. He should not have 
been allowed on that airplane. The American people have the right to 
know why our Nation allowed this person to enter the United States with 
a visa, knowing all of these facts.
  After the failed attack, Abdulmutallab bragged about 20 more 
terrorists preparing to attack the United States. He said they were 
also training in Yemen. According to Slade Gorton, a member of the 9/11 
Commission, He was singing like a canary, then we charged him in 
Federal court, he got a lawyer, and he quit talking. Instead of turning 
the terrorist over to the military authorities for interrogation, or 
even letting him just keep on talking, the administration treated this 
individual like a 2-bit car thief. They told him he had the right to 
remain silent, and then they got this jihadist a lawyer on the public 
dime and he quit talking.
  Under the new ``try the terrorists in Federal court'' policy, America 
has lost the ability to get vital information about al Qaeda. America 
is probably less safe as a result. The bomber could and should have 
been tried in a military court. There are legal allowances for enemies 
like the underwear bomber. And as an enemy combatant, he should have 
been held and interrogated by military officials under existing law.
  In Federal court now they're even talking about offering this 
terrorist a plea deal to get some information that he was willing to 
offer earlier with no deal. Now we are making a deal with the Devil. So 
the terrorists can avoid justice and get leniency by making a backroom 
agreement with authorities.

[[Page H171]]

  Another problem these jihadists have, they are not your average, 
everyday criminals. They are radical jihadists on a mission to kill 
themselves and every American they can take with them. A few years in 
prison is not going to deter their mission. To the contrary, these who 
kill in the name of religion try to kill their prison guards. It's 
happened in the United States.
  Louis Pepe was once a prison guard at the Metropolitan Correctional 
Center in New York. Ten months before the 9/11 terrorist attack, two al 
Qaeda inmates were held there. These are the ones who bombed the 
American Embassy in East Africa in 1998, killing over 200 people. A 
weak-kneed Federal judge gave these two al Qaeda terrorists permission 
to buy hot sauce in the penitentiary. So what they did is made it into 
mace to incapacitate the guard. They stabbed him in the eye with a 
knife they made by filing down a hair comb. They kicked and beat Pepe 
and smeared a cross on his chest in his own blood. He was left 
permanently blinded, partially paralyzed, and he lost most of his 
ability to speak. These terrorists were trying to get the keys to the 
cell block to take more hostages. Now, isn't that lovely?
  Jihadists are at war with this Nation and, when captured, they should 
be treated like military criminals. But first and foremost, when 
radicals are on a threat list, don't let them on the airplane. Why is 
that so difficult to comprehend? Meanwhile, Madam Speaker, the band 
keeps playing while the ship of common sense is sinking in the ocean.
  And that's just the way it is.

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