House Republicans have introduced a discharge petition to try to force a vote on a bill to keep the Obama administration from transferring Guantanamo detainees to the United States. From a press release:
U.S. House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA) today joined with the senior Republicans of the Judiciary, Intelligence and Homeland Security Committees, and Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee Ranking Member Frank Wolf (R-Va.), to demand answers to questions posed over the past ten months about the Administration's ill-advised decision to close Guantanamo Bay. In a letter to President Obama, the Ranking Members outlined the national security concerns posed by the decision and insisted that the Administration provide responses to the American people before any terrorists are imported to the U.S. for detention or prosecution. "By choosing to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the 9/11 co-conspirators in United States federal courts, the President has revealed that he views the terrorist attacks on New York City and the nation's capital as a crime-not as an act of war," stated Rep. McKeon. "Make no mistake about this fact-Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cohorts are hardened terrorists who declared war on America by planning and sanctioning the attacks that killed thousands of people on September 11th." McKeon continued, "From the classified information that I have seen on these guys, I can assure you that they are some of the worst of the worst. They wake up in the morning with the sole purpose of devising new ways to kill or attack Americans and the western world." "In my opinion, Guantanamo Bay provides America the safest location to detain these terrorists. Earlier this year, I traveled to Guantanamo to inspect the facilities and meet first-hand with our military personnel down there," said McKeon. "The facilities rival any that you would find in the United States-as does the care that is being provided to the detainees." "As the President admitted to Fox News earlier today, he's finding it harder than he thought to close Guantanamo. That's because-in Guantanamo-you have a unique facility capable of detaining hundreds of terrorists in a secure environment that is detached from American population centers-but still relatively accessible for prosecutors and defense counsel. As the President and his Administration have discovered, it's nearly impossible to replicate all of these factors at a facility in the continental United States," concluded McKeon. The members also introduced a discharge petition to force a vote H.R. 2294, the "Keep Terrorists Out of America Act." Republican Leader Boehner introduced the bill earlier this year, along with 169 Republicans, to require the President to notify Congress 60 days before the transfer or release of a Guantanamo detainee occurs and to certify that such a transfer or release will not result in the release of any detainee into the U.S., adversely affect the prosecution of any detainee, or otherwise pose a security risk to the U.S. Today's actions follow the decision by President Obama to move self-confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused terrorists to New York City for trial in a U.S. civilian court.