Published: 01-14-09
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn made the following statement regarding reports that President-elect Obama’s transition team is working on an executive order for him to sign as early as his first day in office to close down the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.
“When President-elect Obama takes the oath of office next week he will assume the tremendous responsibility of keeping our country safe from the continued threat of terrorist attacks. America’s national security requires that the terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay remain incapacitated whether at Guantanamo or not.
Closing Guantanamo Bay without an effective plan to continue detaining these individuals would expose the American people to unnecessary risk of harm at the hands of radical jihadis. Their dangerousness was made clear by the actions of dozens of former Guantanamo detainees who were released from the facility and chose to return to the battlefields and wage their terror campaign against America.
“According to the latest numbers from the Department of Defense 61 detainees who have been held and released from Guantanamo Bay are either suspected or confirmed as having returned to the fight in some capacity. This statistic is not only alarming but unacceptable. These were detainees who were released after being judged by the U.S. military to no longer be a threat to our national security.
“If President-elect Obama plans to sign an executive order to empty this prison he needs to explain to Congress and the American people how he plans to keep these dangerous individuals from carrying out their promise to harm America. He needs to explain where we will hold these dangerous individuals and what will be done with them if their home countries won’t take them back.
“I will continue to support keeping open the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay as long as America’s national security warrants it.”
