Guantanamo

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, for the last month, the Republican leader from Kentucky has come to the floor and argued that we should not move detainees currently in Guantanamo into the United States, even for trial. Luckily, the President, the Attorney General, and the head of the joint military chiefs of staff have come to the conclusion that it is in the best interest of the safety and security of the United States that one of these notorious terrorists be brought to the United States for trial. So it has been announced today that Mr. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is being brought to the United States, to New York, for trial.

Luckily, this administration is not following the advice and counsel of Senator McConnell and some on his side. It is time for this man to face trial. What is he being charged with? He is being charged as one of those involved in the 1998 embassy attacks in Africa. This Tanzanian national has been held in Cuba since September of 2006. He was captured by our forces, and others, in Pakistan in 2004 and transported to Guantanamo. He is being charged with his involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in east Africa, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

The position being taken by the Republicans in the Senate is that this man should not be brought to the United States for trial. I think they are wrong. I think it is time that he answered for the crimes being charged against him. Twelve Americans died as a result of what we believe was his conduct. He needs to be held accountable. This argument that he cannot be brought to the United States and tried would virtually allow this man to escape punishment for the crime that we believe he committed. The Republicans' position that he should not be brought to the United States because somehow, if he is being held in a prison in the United States, it is a danger to the rest of us cannot be supported in fact.

There are 347 convicted terrorists presently being held in U.S. prisons--not one has escaped--in supermax facilities and no one has ever escaped. For the Republicans to argue we cannot bring this man to the United
States for trial for killing a dozen Americans leaves him in a position where we may lose our ability to prosecute him. The speedy trial requirements of our Constitution and the laws of the United States could virtually end up with the United States being unable to prosecute this man if the Republican position on Guantanamo detainees is followed.

GEN Colin Powell is right, Guantanamo needs to be closed. It is a recruiting tool for al-Qaida. We know these individuals can be brought to the United States and tried and safely imprisoned. We have never had an escape from a supermax facility. We know that to turn these prisoners over to some other country runs the risk that they will be released.

Dangerous people who threaten the United States should be dealt with by our Constitution and laws. The administration has made the right decision that this man be brought to trial in the United States, held accountable for any wrongdoing on his part that led to the deaths of so many hundreds of innocent people at our Embassies in Africa.

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