President's Gitmo Decision Puts "International Public Relations Ahead of Public Safety"

Washington, DC - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference and a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, delivered the following remarks today on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in opposition to the president's reported plan to transfer certain terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to Thomson, Illinois:

"I was here at the Capitol on September the 11th. I watched the smoke rise from the Pentagon. I walked in the ashes of Ground Zero one week later. Terrorism is not theoretical to me. That's why, like most Americans, I was astonished to read this morning's press reports that the Obama Administration is about to transfer over seventy known dangerous terrorists from the military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay outside the United States to a prison inside the United States in the heartland of America, in the state of Illinois.

"By moving known terrorists to American soil, the Obama Administration is putting international public relations ahead of public safety. How does closing Guantanamo Bay make us safer? How does moving over seventy known terrorists, to a facility in my beloved heartland of this country, make our families more safe? And how does it even make sense? Mr. President: rescind this order; reconsider your decision, put the safety and security of the American people ahead of international public opinion."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Tuesday regarding a proposal to move terrorist detainees from Guantanamo to the United States:

"The American people and a bipartisan majority of the Congress have already rejected bringing terrorists to U.S. soil for long-term detention, and current law prohibits it. The administration has failed to explain how transferring terrorists to Gitmo North will make Americans safer than keeping these terrorists off of our shores at the secure facility in Cuba.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today issued the following statement on the administration’s proposal to move detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States:

“Congress made it very clear to the administration that bringing dangerous terrorists onto American soil is not only the wrong thing to do, but goes against the wishes of the American people. I have yet to hear one good reason why moving these terrorists from off our shores right into the heart of our country makes us safer.”

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Tags: Barack Obama, GITMO, Illinois, Lemar Alexander, Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, prison, prisoners To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!