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Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, 20 years ago today, a C-141 Starlifter made its final descent toward a naval base in the Caribbean. As the plane landed, two white schoolbuses waited on the apron, together with a swarm of military humvees and a large contingent of armed soldiers.
The plane door opened, and the passengers were offloaded. Heads shaven, legs shackled, the passengers were removed from the plane one by one, each wearing the same identical outfit: a fluorescent orange jumpsuit, a matching ski cap, and earmuff-style noise protectors. Some were also wearing blackout goggles over their eyes to completely deprive them of any sentient experience.
This was the scene as the first 20 detainees were hauled off to Guantanamo Bay 4 months to the day after September 11 and the hideous terrorist attacks.
That afternoon, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld assured the public and made a statement. Listen to his words carefully. This is what the Secretary said:
We do plan to, for the most part, treat [the detainees] in a manner that is reasonably consistent with the Geneva Conventions.
Madam President, that Orwellian double-talk kicked off a 20-year saga at Guantanamo Bay, a chapter in American history that it is time to close.
As we now know, the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was deliberately created to avoid the requirements of the Geneva Conventions and other time-honored treaties that America used to brag about being party to. In the words of one senior official in the Bush administration, Guantanamo exists ``in the legal equivalent of outer space.'' The facility was designed to be a legal black hole, where detainees could be held incommunicado, beyond the reach of laws, beyond public scrutiny, and subjected to torture and unspeakable abuse. It is where due process goes to die.
Perhaps the most shameful lie surrounding the creation of Guantanamo's detention facility was that it would help deliver justice to the families of the thousands of Americans who died on 9/11.
In March 2002, then-President George W. Bush delivered a speech before Congress where he promised that the terrorists who attacked America on 9/11 would ``not escape the justice of this nation.'' Yet, two decades later, the families who lost loved ones that day are still awaiting justice. The case against the alleged 9/11 coconspirators has not been resolved. In fact, it has not even gone to trial 20 years later. At this very moment, those terror suspects are sitting in cells in Guantanamo without any resolution in sight.
Think about how the world has changed since September 11, 2001. Osama bin Laden has been hunted down. The war in Afghanistan, our Nation's longest war, is over. Four Presidents--four different Presidents--have presided over the facility at Guantanamo Bay. But despite all these changes and all this history, one tragic truth remains: America has failed to provide closure to the families of the victims who suffered those unimaginable losses on September 11, and that is simply because Guantanamo was never intended to deliver justice.
If justice delayed is justice denied, Guantanamo speaks for itself, and the documented history of Guantanamo Bay cannot be disputed.
Last month, the Judiciary Committee, which I chair, held a hearing on closing Guantanamo Bay finally, once and for all. One of the witnesses who was particularly touching was Colleen Kelly, whose brother Bill died in the North Tower on 9/11. During her testimony, she said:
Five men stand accused in the military commissions at Guantanamo of responsibility for planning and supporting the 9/11 attacks. Today . . . a trial has not even begun. Instead, family members have heard years of argument in pre- trial hearings. While these hearings have produced no legal justice for 9/11, they have revealed the shocking role of torture in undermining [any] 9/11 prosecution.
At the end of her testimony, Ms. Kelly said:
My brother Bill was killed in what was likely the most public event in human history. My family does not have any of my brother's remains, nor do one-third of 9/11 families.
She said directly to us:
I am asking this Committee and the Biden Administration to deliver the next best thing--a resolution to the 9/11 Military Commission that provides answers to our questions, accountability for unlawful acts, justice too long denied, and a path to closing Guantanamo.
When Ms. Kelly spoke before the committee, she wasn't just speaking for her family; she was speaking for our Nation.
For 20 years, Guantanamo Bay has defied our constitutional values and the rule of law. It has actually weakened our national security. It costs us dearly--morally, monetarily.
Listen to the subsidy which American taxpayers give to Guantanamo Bay. It is a subsidy that subverts justice. Today, most Americans couldn't answer this question: How many detainees are there in Guantanamo? Thirty-nine. Taxpayers spend $550 million a year to keep that facility open. Do the math. That is almost $14 million per year on each prisoner.
Moreover, two-thirds of the remaining prisoners have never been charged with any crime. That is right--never charged. Yet they are being detained indefinitely, in violation of our basic constitutional principles.
Of the 27 uncharged men, more than half of them have already been approved for transfer. Think of that. Some have been approved for years. Another was approved just yesterday. These individuals are languishing in Guantanamo for no justifiable reason and contrary to any notion of liberty or justice.
Every day Guantanamo remains open is a victory for our Nation's enemies. It is a symbol of our failure to hold terrorists accountable and our failure to honor the sacrifices of our servicemembers. These failures should not be passed on to another generation. They should end with the Biden administration.
Last fall, I introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to close Guantanamo. It was ambitious, I know, but it was a goal that I felt is most consistent with who we are as Americans and what we say about justice. I was disappointed that the Senate didn't take up any amendments literally or this amendment particularly. Instead, it voted once again to prohibit the use of Federal funds to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the United States and made it even harder to transfer detainees to foreign countries willing to accept them. That just delays the Guantanamo experience even longer.
But let me be clear, even with these legislative restrictions in place, there is more the Biden administration can and must do to accelerate the closure of Guantanamo.
First, the administration should repatriate or resettle the 14 detainees who have been cleared for transfer. There is no excuse, none, for any further delay, which is why President Biden should appoint a special envoy at the State Department to negotiate transfer agreements with other nations.
Additionally, the Biden administration should appoint a senior official within the White House who will be accountable for leading the process of closing Guantanamo.
Finally, the Justice Department should bring its legal positions in alignment with President Biden's stated goal of closing Guantanamo in his first term. The Department has yet to correct course on a number of troubling legal positions, including failing to acknowledge that our Constitution's due process clause applies to prisoners held in Guantanamo.
It is time to stop hiding from our values. Our Federal courts have proven more than capable of handling even the most serious and complex terrorism cases. They have done so swiftly and efficiently.
Since 9/11, hundreds of terrorism suspects have been tried and convicted in our Federal court system. Many are now being held safely in Federal prisons. Meanwhile, as I mentioned, the case against alleged conspirators in the 9/11 attacks still has not come to trial. In the face of unimaginable horror, such as the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we must turn to our system of justice to hold our enemies accountable. Legal black holes like Guantanamo are anathema to American values and accountability.
One of the military officials who testified in last month's hearing was Michael Lehnert. He was the very first commandant at the facility at Guantanamo. Where does he stand today on that facility? He is calling publicly for its swift closure.
During his testimony, General Lehnert said that ``most of America has forgotten about Guantanamo. But hear me when I tell you that our enemies have not. Closing Guantanamo responsibly restores the reputation of America,'' the general said, ``ensures accountability for those who have committed crimes against us, and provides closure for the families of those they have harmed.''
By allowing Guantanamo to remain open, we are giving our enemies the power to define who America is. It is time to reclaim that power and prove to the world that America is not a nation defined by our darkest moments. We are a nation defined by our values. Let us start living up to them.
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