Guantanamo

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, over the course of the last several weeks, the minority leader--the Republican leader, Senator McConnell--has come to the floor repeatedly to raise the issue of the closing of Guantanamo. Day after day after day he raised the question as to whether we should close the Guantanamo facility and, if we did close such facility, where these detainees would be sent and whether they could be securely incarcerated and detained. These questions were raised repeatedly, and little was said on this side of the aisle, in deference to the President, who was coming forward with his plan and dealing with this problem, and it was a problem he inherited.

When President Obama was sworn into office, he inherited about 240 Guantanamo detainees, some of whom had been held in Guantanamo for a lengthy period of time, some had been interrogated, many had been considered for trial or military tribunal, or even released, but President Obama inherited these 240 detainees. He made a statement in one of his first days in office as President that two things would happen under his administration: First, we would not engage in torture as a nation; and second, we would close Guantanamo.

After making that announcement, he made it clear he would have to come back with a specific set of proposals, which he did 2 weeks ago, in a historic speech at the National Archives. Until that speech was made, Senator McConnell, and some other Republicans in support of his position, came to the floor and continued to question whether we could or should close Guantanamo. Today, earlier this afternoon, the assistant minority leader, Senator Kyl of Arizona, came to the floor and made remarks about my views on the issue as well as President Obama's views on closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

It is true that I believe, as President Obama does, that closing Guantanamo is an important national security priority for America. But Senator Kyl did not mention the others who support closing Guantanamo. It is not just the President and his former Illinois colleague Senator Durbin who support the closing of Guantanamo. Many security and military leaders have said that closing Guantanamo will make America safer, and here are a few examples. Leading the list of those who agree with President Obama in closing Guantanamo, General Colin Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State under President George W. Bush; Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have both publicly stated they favor the closing of Guantanamo; former Republican Secretaries of State James Baker, Henry Kissinger, and Condoleezza Rice, ADM Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and GEN David Petraeus.

So for Senator Kyl to come to the floor and suggest this notion of closing Guantanamo is not one shared by military and security leaders is not accurate. The list I have given you is not complete. Many others agree with the President's position. According to the experts, Guantanamo has been a recruiting tool for al-Qaida that is actually hurting America's security. In his remarks this afternoon, Senator Kyl challenged the notion of closing Guantanamo, saying:

An idea that's been floated by the President, Senator Durbin, and others.

But Senator Kyl didn't mention who these nameless ``others'' are who agree with the closing of Guantanamo or who agree it is a recruiting tool for terrorists. Let's take one for example: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen said:

The concern I've had about Guantanamo is that it has been a recruiting symbol for those extremists and jihadists who would fight us. That's the heart of the concern for Guantanamo's continued existence.

That was a quote from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ADM Mike Mullen.

Retired Air Force MAJ Matthew Alexander led the interrogation team that tracked down Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. Here is what he said:

I listened time and time again to foreign fighters, and Sunni Iraqis, state that the number one reason they had decided to pick up arms and join Al Qaeda was the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the authorized torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay. ..... It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse.

Alberto Mora, former Navy General Counsel, testified to the Senate Armed
Services Committee about Guantanamo. Here is what he said:

Serving U.S. flag-rank officers ..... maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq--as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat--are, respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

So it is not accurate to suggest that President Obama and I dreamed up the notion that Guantanamo is a recruiting poster. It is our military who have told us that, based on their experiences fighting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senator Kyl also claims that no one has been abused at Guantanamo. He said:

This idea that prisoners are treated badly is patently false. The insinuation directly or indirectly that torture has occurred at Guantanamo must stop.

That is Senator Kyl's opinion. But others have a different view. The Senate Armed Services Committee issued a bipartisan report which reached a different conclusion. They found:

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo Bay was a direct cause of detainee abuse there.

Let's take another example. Susan Crawford was the top Bush administration official dealing with military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. She was general counsel of the Army during the Reagan administration and Pentagon inspector general when Dick Cheney was the Defense Secretary. She is a lifelong Republican.

Susan Crawford reached the conclusion that Mohammad Al-Qahtani, the so-called 20th hijacker, could not be prosecuted for his role in the 9/11 attacks because he was tortured at Guantanamo Bay. Here is what she said:

We tortured Qahtani. ..... If we tolerate this and allow it, then how can we object when our servicemen and women, or others in the foreign service, are captured and subjected to the same techniques? How can we complain? Where is our moral authority to complain? Well, we may have lost it.

This is one reason that President Obama is closing Guantanamo and has put an end to the abusive interrogation techniques that were used at Guantanamo--because they put our troops at risk of being abused if they are captured.

Senator Kyl also claimed that there is no connection between the abuse that took place at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. That is Senator Kyl's view.

But the Senate Armed Services Committee reached a different conclusion. Here is what they found:

The abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own. Interrogation techniques such as stripping detainees of their clothes, placing them in stress positions, and using military working dogs to intimidate them appeared in Iraq only after they had been approved for use in Afghanistan and at GITMO.

Senator Kyl said those of us who advocate closing Guantanamo should be thankful for the service of our soldiers and sailors at Guantanamo rather than, quote, ``slapping them in the face and insinuating they have done something wrong.''

Let me be very clear. I visited Guantanamo in 2006. I left with a feeling of great pride and admiration for the soldiers and sailors who are serving in Guantanamo. They are doing a great job, but they are being asked to carry a heavy burden created by the previous administration's policies. It is no favor to the men and women who serve there to have them continue their service if, in fact it is a recruiting tool for terrorists who are putting the lives of other servicemen and women of America at risk around the world.

President Obama is closing Guantanamo because it will make America, and our troops, safer. What is a slap in the face is to continue policies from the previous administration that recruit more terrorists and put our troops at greater risk of being abused if they are captured.

Senator Kyl said there are ``serious concerns about the safety of Americans'' if Guantanamo is closed and detainees are transferred to the United States to be held in supermax prisons.

But Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is a military lawyer said:

I do believe we can handle 100 or 250 prisoners and protect our national security interests, because we had 450,000 German and Japanese prisoners in the United States. So, this idea that they cannot be housed somewhere safely, I disagree.

People who suggest that we cannot detain terrorists in our prisons should show more respect for the brave corrections officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe.

Just the week before last I went to Marion Federal Prison in southern Illinois. It was once our maximum security prison in the United States before the supermax facility was opened at Florence, CO. It was interesting. As I met with the corrections officers in the lockup of the Marion Federal Prison, and after a little bit of a tour, I asked him: What do you think of this notion that we hear from Senators on the floor, such as Senator Kyl and Senator McConnell, that we cannot safely incarcerate Guantanamo detainees in the prisons of the United States?

The one corrections officer said to me: Senator, I am insulted by that comment. At this facility we are now incarcerating members of Colombian drug terrorist gangs. We have had serial murderers here. We have incarcerated John Gotti. We have incarcerated some of the most dangerous people convicted, brought into this country from overseas where they are posing a threat to America. In the United States, we brought them here. We know how to handle these prisoners. We are up to this task. We have proven it over and over again.

The very Senators who are questioning whether we can safely incarcerate our prisoners in our maximum and supermax facilities should acknowledge one obvious fact: No one, literally no one, has ever escaped from a supermax facility in the United States. For those on the Republican side to argue that putting these prisoners from Guantanamo into a supermax facility endangers us in the community--it is not supported by history and experience.

Senator Kyl said: ``No one has ever escaped from Guantanamo.'' That is true. But it is also true no prisoner has ever escaped from a Federal supermaximum security facility. I said before, and I will repeat because Senator Kyl made reference to it, at the base of this argument made by Senator McConnell and Senator Kyl is fear--not just fear of extremists and terrorists and violence but fear that this great country of America cannot stand by the values which we have honored for generations and still be safe; fear that we can't stand for the constitutional principles we swear to uphold and still be safe; fear that we cannot trust Americans and our court system, the best in the world, to, in fact, try these prisoners and, if they are guilty, incarcerate them--fear that we cannot do that and be safe; fear that we cannot trust the men and women working at prisons around America, the supermax facilities, to safely incarcerate Guantanamo detainees.

That kind of fear, which is what we hear on a regular basis, the regular diet fed to us by the Republican Senators, is no basis for a sound American foreign policy. If we are going to have a policy which protects us abroad and at home, we should recognize threats for what they are, understand our strengths and our weaknesses, and be prepared. This idea of cowering in fear--which is what the Republican Senators offer us as a daily regimen from their speeches on the floor--is not what America has ever been about.

Just this last Saturday we celebrated the 65th anniversary of that miraculous invasion of D-day. I got on the phone and called one of my great friends in Springfield, IL, Joe Kelly. Joe Kelly came in on the seventh day after D-day with the Artillery, spent 18 months with the Army, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He is a great fellow. He talked about volunteering.

I want to tell you something. When Joe Kelly and his four brothers volunteered in Chicago to fight in World War II, it wasn't because they were afraid. They volunteered because they believed they could only keep this country safe by being prepared to stand up for it and fight. They did it and did it successfully.

That spirit, that patriotic spirit of D-day, of Joe Kelly and so many others, is what will keep America safe, and President Obama knows it. Senator McConnell and Senator Kyl can come to the Senate floor and express their fears over and over again, the latest fears that they have about the safety of this country, but they are not borne out by the facts. I will stand by GEN Colin Powell and others, people I admire, who have given so many years of their lives in service to this country who agree with President Obama to close the Guantanamo facility, trust our supermax facilities to hold these detainees if that is necessary, and be aware of the fact that if we should ship these detainees to some other country to be tried or for some other purpose, there is a serious question as to whether they will treat them the way they should be treated for the safety of the United States.

For many years, incidentally, President George W. Bush said he wanted to close Guantanamo. There were not any complaints from the Republican side of the aisle then. President George W. Bush could not get the job done. President Obama has said he will try to finish that job.

I hope some of these who are critical of President Obama and his position will not make a political issue about Guantanamo. If President George W. Bush and President Obama agree it should be closed, it is pretty clear to me that at the highest level of our government there is a bipartisan consensus. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are criticizing President Obama when it comes to Guantanamo, but the fact is, they have no plan but to leave that facility open and continue to see it being used around the world against the United States and as a recruiting tool for terrorists.

I urge my Republican colleagues to join with GEN Colin Powell and join with those on their side of the aisle who understand that closing Guantanamo will make America safer.

I yield the floor.

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