President Obama's Gitmo Plan Is Dangerous

Statement

On May 21, President Obama once again announced his intention to close the terrorist detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, also known as "Gitmo." Under the president's plan, many Gitmo detainees would be transferred to federal prisons - perhaps even some in Oklahoma - while others would be released overseas.

I believe such a move would be dangerous.

The president's plan raises the possibility that those freed abroad would return to terrorist activities. Meanwhile, others held in the U.S. could foment riots or attacks on guards in our prisons, or even recruit new terrorists from among their fellow inmates.

Are these concerns misplaced? Hardly.

On the very same day President Obama made his speech, two news items made it clear these fears are well founded.

In New York, the FBI captured members of a terrorist cell who had been planning to bomb synagogues and shoot down airplanes with missiles. The would-be attackers had all been in prison, where they were in contact with radical Islamic inmates and reportedly became violent, radical converts themselves.

Also on May 21, newspapers published summaries of a new report by the Department of Defense detailing the cases of 74 former Guantanamo detainees who had been released only to return to terrorism. One is now the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen and has been implicated in the bombing of the American embassy there. The report concluded that at least 14% of detainees released from Guantanamo have returned to terrorist activities.
So on the same day that President Obama said he wanted to release some terrorists and move others to American prisons, we learned that other terrorists had apparently been recruited in those same prisons and that a good number of those already released have gone back into the business of murdering people.

This is more than bad timing. It suggests the decision to close Gitmo is not only a bad policy; it is a dangerous one.

When the issue of closing Guantanamo Bay was raised in January of this year, I noted that terrorists transferred to the federal prison system would be likely to come through the Federal Transfer Center near Will Rogers World Airport.

The dangers in housing violent Al Qaeda members right next to an active air terminal are obvious. I voiced opposition to this plan when it was first proposed, for one reason: it is not safe.

The defense of the American people against those who would delight in killing us should be the federal government's first priority, but President Obama's plan to close Guantanamo Bay would leave us at risk. I will continue to fight it in Congress.

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