Guantanamo Bay

Floor Speech

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Mr. WEBER of Texas. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), my colleague, for organizing this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely important that the American people need to learn about the President's proposal and what impact it is going to have on our country.

Folks, closing GTMO and transferring these dangerous terrorists to United States soil is a terrible and an illogical idea. Instead of putting America first, the President once again continues to weaken our national security by pursuing decisions apparently geared toward solidifying some form of his legacy. I am just not sure who he is trying to impress here.

Did you know that as many as one in three--the gentleman from Pennsylvania said 30 percent and rising; with the latest figures I have, 33 percent--one in three former GTMO detainees have returned or are suspected of returning to terrorist organizations? One in three, Mr. Speaker. In baseball, that is a .333 batting average. That is good enough to get you into the Hall of Fame in many instances.

Speaking of Hall of Famers, Mr. Speaker, the most infamous former GTMO detainee, one of their hall of famers, if you will, is Ibrahim al Qosi, once the cook for none other than Osama bin Laden himself.

Al Qosi pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and providing material support to al Qaeda. Al Qosi was transferred from GTMO to Sudan, his home country, after 2 years. Well, since his release, he has become an influential leader within--you guessed it--al Qaeda in Yemen.

What was the President thinking would happen? Well, the President's plan includes ``transferring the bulk of remaining detainees to other countries and moving the rest because they are deemed too dangerous to transfer abroad to an as yet undetermined detention facility in the United States.''

Mr. Speaker, a recent poll from Rasmussen confirms that the majority--56 percent, in fact--of the American people widely disapprove of the President's irresponsible plan to close GTMO. For those who side with the President's plan and attempt to rationalize the fact that these dangerous and deadly terrorists will be in supermax facilities, let us not forget about the prison break that happened in one of those facilities in New York just last year.

The two men who escaped weren't masterminds. They weren't terrorists of the first order like these guys are. Can you imagine what masterminds who plot terror, who love death and violence almost as much if not more than we love life and liberty, can you imagine what these masterminds of terrorism could do? Who knows how much help they could get from the outside, what their hall of famers could help them do.

Mr. Speaker, I am not willing to find out what they can do with the aid of their hall of famers on the outside, and I don't think the American public is willing to find out, either. Fortunately, as the gentleman from Pennsylvania said, Congress has already taken preventive measures by including language in the recent National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA, that would bar Guantanamo detainees from being transferred to the United States, and the President signed this legislation into law.

For the President to close GTMO, current law must be changed. Oh, I forget. He doesn't seem to be hampered by the idea of current law. New legislation would have to be written, Mr. Speaker. It would have to be approved by Congress and sent to the President's desk again. Let me just tell you: I, for one, will not support any measure that will allow these dangerous terrorists to be transferred to the United States. America and Americans are far too precious to take this kind of risk.

I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), my friend, for hosting this Special Order hour tonight.

I want to read something that was written by Michelle Jesse, where Secretary of State John Kerry testified in front of a Senate committee hearing, I think it was yesterday. It was pointed out to the Secretary that this very guy who was the cook of Osama bin Laden, al Qosi, had indeed gone back to terrorism and to trying to kill Americans yet again.

I guess Mr. Kerry in seven simple words probably dismantled the President's argument about why it was a good idea, maybe unwittingly, maybe unknowingly. But when it was pointed out to him that that terrorist was back on the battlefield seeking to destroy Americans and kill Americans again, Mr. Kerry's simple response was: ``Well . . . he's not supposed to be doing that.''

Mr. Speaker, you can't make this stuff up.

I want to thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

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