Credit Cardholders' Bill Of Rights Act Of 2009 - Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, for the last several weeks there has been a hue and cry from the other side of the aisle, a steady procession of Republican Senators, concerning the President's intention to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. I would like to remind colleagues this is a problem President Obama inherited from the previous administration, and it is worth a few moments to review the history.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Bush administration decided to set aside treaties that had served us in past conflicts. They sent detainees to the Guantanamo facility and claimed the right to seize anyone, including American citizens in the United States, and to hold them indefinitely without legal rights.

GEN Colin Powell, then the Secretary of State to President George W. Bush, objected. He said the administration's policy:

Will reverse over a century of U.S. policy and practice ..... and undermine the protections of the law of war for our own troops ..... It will undermine public support among critical allies, making military cooperation more difficult to sustain.

GEN Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then Secretary of State to George W. Bush. Secretary Powell's words were prophetic. Guantanamo became an international embarrassment for the United States and, sadly, tragically, a recruiting tool for terrorists such as al-Qaida. The Supreme Court repeatedly held that the administration's detention policies were illegal. As Justice Sandra Day O'Connor famously wrote for the majority in the Hamdi difficult decision:

A state of war is not a blank check for the President.

Today, nearly 8 years after the 9/11 attacks, none of the terrorists who planned those attacks has been brought to justice.

After he left the Bush administration, Colin Powell spoke out publicly again. He said:

Guantanamo has become a major, major problem ..... in the way the world perceives America. ..... We don't need it and it is causing us far more damage than any good we get for it.

That is not a quote from the ACLU. That came from GEN Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State. A lot of others agree. Four other former Secretaries of State, Republican and Democratic, have weighed in: Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, James Baker, and Warren Christopher have all called for Guantanamo to be closed. As Secretary Baker explained:

We all agreed one of the best things that could happen would be to close Guantanamo, which is a very serious blot on our reputation.

Former Navy general counsel Alberto Mora testified in the Senate Armed Services Committee, saying:

There are serving U.S. flag-rank officers who maintain that the first and second identifiable causes of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq--as judged by their effectiveness in recruiting insurgent fighters into combat--are respectively the symbols of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

This was not some leftwing columnist. This is the former Navy general counsel, Alberto Mora.

Retired Air Force MAJ Matthew Alexander led the interrogation team that tracked down Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. He used legal and traditional interrogation tactics which he believes are more effective than torture. Here is what Major Alexander said:

I listened time and time again to foreign fighters, and Sunni Iraqis, state that the number one reason they decided to pick up arms and join Al Qaeda was the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the authorized torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay. ..... It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse.

Let me remind those listening again, the source of this quote is not some liberal-leaning columnist, angry at policies of the United States. It is MAJ Matthew Alexander from the Air Force, a man who dedicated a large part of his life to serving our country and risking his life in its defense.

I visited Guantanamo in 2006. I left with a feeling of pride and admiration for the soldiers and sailors serving there. They are great Americans doing a tough job in a very bleak climate. But they are being asked to carry a heavy burden created by the previous administration's policies, which have turned Guantanamo, sadly, into a recruiting poster for al-Qaida.

By 2006, even former President George W. Bush said he wanted to close Guantanamo Bay. He acknowledged the problem. He didn't do anything to solve it.

As an aside, it is interesting to note that there were no complaints from the Republican side of the aisle when President Bush said he wanted to close Guantanamo. The Republican leader of the Senate did not come down to the floor to object when his President made the suggestion. He started making a regular trip to the floor to object when the suggestion was made by President Obama.

President Obama has shown courage in taking on this difficult challenge. Within 48 hours of his inauguration, President Obama issued executive orders prohibiting torture, stating that Guantanamo will be closed within 1 year and setting up a review process for all detainees who are currently held at Guantanamo.

Here is what President Obama said:

The United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals.

At the signing of the Executive orders, the President was joined by 16 retired admirals and generals. These distinguished Americans issued a statement saying:

President Obama's actions today will restore the moral authority and strengthen the national security of the United States. ..... President Obama has rejected the false choice between national security and our ideals. Our Nation will be stronger and safer for it.

In response to the Executive orders, Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said:

We support President Obama's decision to close the prison at Guantanamo, reaffirm America's adherence to the Geneva Conventions, and begin a process that will, we hope, lead to the resolution of all cases of Guantanamo detainees.

Keep in mind, I have just read a quote from Senator John McCain, a man who, of course, was President Obama's opponent in the last election, but a man who had a personal life experience of over 5 years of captivity during the Vietnam war, and a colleague of mine who has shown extraordinary courage and political courage and leadership in leading the effort to say, once and for all, that we were going to prohibit torture as part of America's policy.

It was Senator McCain, along with his colleague Senator Graham, who said these supportive things after President Obama's announcement. It was a strong bipartisan statement, a strong day for our country.

But now things have changed, and I do not know why. The Republicans are on the attack. They claim that the President does not have a plan to close Guantanamo, and yet at the same time they are arguing that the President does have a plan, which is to release terrorists into the United States. Imagine that. These claims are not only contradictory, they are preposterous.

The truth is, the President is taking the time to carefully plan for the closure of Guantanamo, and he is going to do it in a way that is consistent with America's security.

Here is how the Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair explained it:

[Guantanamo] is a rallying cry for terrorist recruitment and harmful to our national security, so closing it is important for our national security. The guiding principles for closing the center should be protecting our national security, respecting the Geneva Conventions and the rule of law, and respecting the existing institutions of justice in this country. Closing this center and satisfying these principles will take time, and is the work of many departments and agencies.

In recent weeks, Republicans have regularly come to the floor of the Senate and the House to make dozens of statements criticizing President Obama on Guantanamo. The distinguished minority leader, Senator McConnell of Kentucky, alone, has spoken on this issue on 9 separate occasions over the last 11 days the Senate has been in session. It is interesting that the Republicans are spending so much time focused on the fate of Guantanamo while President Obama and others in Congress are focused on getting our economy back on track after 8 years of failed economic policies.

What is the explanation? According to a recent story in Politico:

Congressional Republicans have stoked parochial fears of releasing Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. mainland, and GOP aides privately acknowledge that this issue is one of the few on which they believe they have a real edge on the Obama administration.

Somehow arguing on the floor of the Senate that President Barack Obama cannot wait to close Guantanamo and turn terrorists loose in the United States--incredible.

The Hill newspaper reported:

As polls show most Americans approve of the job Obama is doing on issues like the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and others, Republicans are desperate to find an issue on which they can come out ahead.

In other words, the Republicans are trying to turn Guantanamo into a political issue. Richard Clarke was President George W. Bush's first counterterrorism chief. Listen to what he said last week:

Recent Republican attacks on Guantanamo are more desperate attempts from a demoralized party to politicize national security and the safety of the American people.

Let's examine two of the specific claims from the other side of the aisle. They argue that transferring Guantanamo detainees to U.S. prisons will put Americans at risk.

Well, earlier today my colleague Sheldon Whitehouse--I serve on the Judiciary Committee with him--had a very interesting hearing, which I am sure will be noted by many people when they follow the news, where he talked about the detention and interrogation policies and brought some critical witnesses to testify who had dissented from President Bush's policies during the course of his administration.

During his hearing in the Judiciary Committee today, one of the witnesses was Phillip Zelikow. Phillip Zelikow was the Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission, which has received high marks from virtually everyone for the professional job they did under the leadership of Governor Kean of New Jersey and former Congressman Hamilton of Indiana. Mr. Zelikow also served as counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He comes to this issue with ample experience.

Mr. Zelikow was intimately involved with these issues during the Bush administration, and he strongly supports closing Guantanamo. He told me in the hearing it will be safe to transfer Guantanamo detainees to U.S. prisons and facilities, and some of the most dangerous terrorists are already incarcerated in the United States.

Here are a few examples: Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings--he is being safely and securely held in an American detention facility; 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui; Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber; and numerous al-Qaida terrorists responsible for bombing United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

If we can safely hold these individuals, I believe we can safely hold any Guantanamo detainees who need to be held. I should note no prisoner has ever escaped from a Federal supermaximum security facility in the United States.

Republicans also claim the administration wants to release terrorists into our communities. What an incredible charge, and patently false. President Obama has made clear that Guantanamo will be closed in a manner consistent with our national security.

Even the Bush administration acknowledged that there are people being held at Guantanamo who were wrongly detained and who are not terrorists. Let me give you one example.

There is an attorney in Chicago who is a friend of mine who volunteered to represent one of the detainees at Guantanamo. At his own expense, he flies down to Guantanamo and meets with this man periodically. He tells me that the man is now 26 years old. He is originally from Gaza. He has been held now for 7 years--7 years--because at the time we were offering rewards to people in various parts of the world who would turn in suspects. So the money was offered. This man was turned in, eventually sent to Guantanamo.

The attorney tells me he was sent to Guantanamo at the age of 19. He is now 26. Fifteen months ago, our Government sent a message to this attorney saying: We have reviewed this case in detail--after 6 years--reviewed this case in detail. We have no charges against this man being held in detention.

This man is being held in Guantanamo, which is a very bleak setting if you have been there, and he has now been held an additional 15 months with no pending charges. Our Government did not believe he is a dangerous individual. What they were trying to do is to find a place where he can go and, for 15 months, he has been sitting in detention in Guantanamo.

Is that consistent with justice in America? Is that the kind of image we want? Of course we want to be safe. But the rule of law suggests that if the man has done nothing wrong, he should not be punished for it and continue to be in this secure setting in Guantanamo, separated from his family now for 7 years, with no charges brought against him.

Even the Bush administration, which started this Guantanamo detention, realized after some time that literally hundreds of people who were detained there were not in any way, shape, or form a threat to the United States and they were released--many of them back to their home countries.

Back in 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described the detainees at Guantanamo as ``the hardest of the hard core'' and ``among the most dangerous, best trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth.'' Those are the words of Secretary Rumsfeld. However, since that statement by Secretary
Rumsfeld, two out of three of the detainees in Guantanamo have been released. They have also cleared dozens of additional detainees for release but cannot return them to their home countries, much like the one I described, because of the risk they may be tortured if they return.

We need our allies to accept some of these detainees, but they have made it clear they will not do so unless the United States admits a small number of detainees who do not present any threat to our country.

As Senator Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has pointed out, it is illegal under U.S. law to resettle terrorists in the United States--one of the charges being made on the Republican side of the aisle. Unlike the previous administration, President Obama does not believe that he can set aside any laws enacted by Congress. No one can be admitted to this country to live freely until they have been through a thorough background and security check and cleared of wrongdoing.

President Obama inherited the Guantanamo mess from the previous administration. Solving this problem is not easy. There will be difficult choices, and it will take time. But the President has shown he is willing to step up and lead and make hard decisions that are in the best interests of the security of the United States.

I applaud the President for engaging in a careful and deliberative process to close Guantanamo. As Colin Powell, James Baker, John McCain, and many military officials have said, closing Guantanamo will make us a safer nation.

I urge my Republican colleagues to take another look at this issue and understand that this important national security issue is best solved in a bipartisan way, and that we should continue the work of closing Guantanamo, suggested by President George W. Bush, by doing it in a fashion that is consistent with America's values.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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