WASHINGTON – Four powerful Republican senators Tuesday pushed for legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on the transfer of high-level Guantanamo detainees, citing volatility of the Middle East and the recent terror attacks in Paris as signs that now is not the time to give prisoners the opportunity to return to the battlefield.
Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte of the Armed Services Committee and Sen. Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, outlined their plans for a bill to block the release of more Guantanamo Bay prisoners. The Obama administration has reduced the Gitmo populations from 242 at the beginning of his administration to 127 today. The last transfer took place when five prisoners were moved to Kazakhstan.
“We have almost a 30 percent suspected or confirmed cases of re-engagement in terrorism of those who have been released from Guantanamo,” Ayotte said. “We should never have a member of our military, or someone who is one of our allies, re-confronting one of these individuals we had in custody.”
The senators specifically focused on the danger of transferring detainees to Yemen, a hotbed of terrorism and the main operating-ground for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, commonly known as AQAP. It is known that one of the French attackers was in contact with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American jihadi based in Yemen who was killed in a 2011 drone strike.
The legislation also would establish a higher standard for international transfers, including a national security waiver, extend the prohibition on construction or modification of facilities in the U.S. and require the secretary of defense to report on Guantanamo detainees.
All four senators expressed frustration with the administration’s lack of transparency on this issue and cited it as an impetus for their efforts to impose new rules surrounding detainee transfers.
“In over six years, this administration has never presented to the Congress of the United States a concrete or coherent plan as to how to handle the detainee issue,” McCain said.
He said there is support for the planned bill in the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee will be considering the legislation soon.
Video: The proposition of a two-year moratorium comes two years before the end of President Obama’s term, possibly preventing him from making good on his promise to close Guantanamo Bay.
