[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 6, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S4334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TREATMENT OF SOMALI TERRORIST

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, yesterday afternoon we learned that 
over the weekend a Somali terrorist who had been held and interrogated 
on a U.S. Navy ship for the past 2\1/2\ months has been flown to New 
York to face criminal charges in a civilian court--a Somali terrorist 
flown to New York to be tried in a civilian court.
  I strongly disagree with this decision. Mr. Warsame is a foreign 
enemy combatant, and he should be treated as one. He should be sitting 
in a cell in Guantanamo Bay and eventually tried before a military 
commission.
  Warsame is an admitted terrorist. In 2009, Warsame trained and fought 
with the militant Islamic group al-Shabaab in Somalia. Over the last 2 
years, Warsame has provided support and training to al-Qaida in Yemen.
  Since the day President Obama signed the Executive order to direct 
the closure of the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and 
end the Central Intelligence Agency's enhanced interrogation program, 
Senate Republicans have been asking the administration what would be 
done with an unlawful enemy combatant captured overseas in a place 
other than Iraq or Afghanistan. At one point, CIA Director Leon Panetta 
speculated that if Osama bin Laden had been captured alive, he would 
have been sent to Guantanamo. Over time, it became clear that the 
administration did not have a policy in place that could address this 
circumstance. So without a straight answer, we were left in the dark on 
how this administration would handle an enemy combatant captured 
overseas.
  Finally, after waiting 18 months, I think we have our answer. As was 
disclosed yesterday, Warsame has been in military custody for months, 
during which time he has been interrogated by various law enforcement 
agencies. However, now he has been read his Miranda rights. This is a 
Somalian terrorist captured overseas who has now been read his Miranda 
rights. Why? Why? Why is a man who is a known terrorist and enemy of 
the United States being afforded the protections of an American 
citizen? Now he is in the hands of civilian authorities and will be 
given all the rights accorded to a U.S. citizen in a civilian court. It 
is truly astonishing that this administration is determined--
determined--to give foreign fighters all the rights and privileges of 
U.S. citizens regardless of where they are captured.
  In the case of Alwan and Hammadi, two enemy combatants who fought and 
killed U.S. soldiers in Iraq, they were captured in Bowling Green, KY, 
my State, and are now awaiting trial in a Bowling Green courtroom--a 
decision being summarily condemned by Kentuckians and most of their 
elected leaders from both parties at the State and Federal levels. And 
now Warsame, an enemy combatant with ties to al-Qaida who was captured 
overseas and detained by the military for months, is now inside the 
United States awaiting trial as a civilian criminal suspect. It is not 
necessary to bring or continue to harbor these terrorists within the 
United States. The infrastructure is already in place to handle these 
dangerous individuals at Guantanamo. However, it has become abundantly 
clear that the administration has no intention of utilizing Guantanamo 
unless an enemy combatant is already being held there. Instead, the 
administration has purposely imported a terrorist into the United 
States and is providing him all the rights of a U.S. citizen in court. 
This ideological rigidity being displayed by the administration is 
harming the national security of the United States of America.
  Alwan, Hammadi, Warsame, and all future enemy combatants belong in 
Guantanamo. They do not deserve the same rights and privileges as 
American citizens. The administration's actions are inexplicable, 
create unnecessary risks here at home, and do nothing at all to 
increase the security of the United States.

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