McConnell on Democrats’ Dangerous Obsession with Closing Guantanamo Bay

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding Guantanamo Bay:

"Mr. President, some things in life are just constants. The sun rises in the East. Water is wet. And Democratic Administrations look for ways to let terrorists out of Guantanamo Bay.

"The Biden Administration has already overseen the largest terrorist jailbreak in modern memory when they abandoned the Bagram Air Base prison in Afghanistan.

"They let the Taliban waltz in and free thousands of terrorists - reportedly including the ISIS-K suicide bomber who killed our 13 American servicemembers in Kabul during the Biden Administration's botched withdrawal.

"Now, rumor has it they're considering writing a sequel to that jailbreak by continuing the Obama-Biden Administration's obsession with removing terrorists from our secure and legal detention facility at Guantanamo.

"Let's get a few things straight. The American people are safer and more secure because monsters like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed are off the battlefield and behind bars where they belong.

"When the Obama Administration wanted to bring these terrorists to America, introduce them into the American judicial and prison systems, the Congress - on an overwhelming, bipartisan basis - said no.

"But the progressive leftists in the Biden Administration don't seem to care. They seem more concerned about the views of European human rights activists than about key national security concerns and complex legal questions.

"So new reports suggest that President Biden and his team are trying to cut plea deals with these terrorists and war criminals. They want to cut them deals!

"What would these deals look like? No one knows. They won't tell anybody.

"Would they be transferred into our own taxpayer-funded justice system for American citizens? Are we going to have hardened terrorists moving through the streets of Manhattan, with terrorist lawyers getting the rights and access that pertain to defense counsel? Mayor Adams is already saying New York can't cope with President Biden's open southern border - and now the NYPD could have to babysit terrorists, too?

"Or is the plan military commissions? In which case: What concessions is the President planning to make to these murderers to get their activist lawyers to accept that forum?

"Or does the Administration intend to follow the Obama Administration's model, and rely on third parties and other countries to do the dirty work of detention?

"Well, that requires allies who are reliable, responsible, and willing. Does President Biden plan to gamble on an Iraqi government that's increasingly under the influence of Iran? Or do they want to double down on detention facilities run by Syrian Kurdish partners, in areas that are not yet under the control of the Assad regime? There's already no plan for Europe to re-absorb their citizens who fought for ISIS and are currently detained by the SDF. But we're going to add to those ranks?

"There is a huge long list of practical problems the Administration needs to consider before they toy with risky plans to shutter a perfectly good facility at Guantanamo Bay for no good reason.

"The Biden Administration has got to rediscover some common sense.

"I understand that liberal activists are willing to leave innocent American families in greater danger in exchange for a little bit of left-wing symbolism. But a Commander-in-Chief has a higher duty."

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