On his second day in office, the President announced his plans to close Guantanamo Bay in an effort to improve America’s image around the world. But, Republicans went to the floor of this House, we went to the airwaves, we even went to the Internet at GOP.gov to inform the American people that Guantanamo Bay holds some of the most dangerous terrorists on the planet. Men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks, and Abu Zubaydah, a key facilitator of the 9/11 attacks.
Because of the strong Republican leadership in the House and the Senate, even our Democrat colleagues in the last week joined us, denying any and all funding for closing Guantanamo Bay in the war supplemental bill.
But now we read that the President is renewing his effort to close Guantanamo Bay and that despite a recent Pentagon report that nearly one out of every seven terrorist detainees previously released from Guantanamo Bay may have returned to their terrorist activity.
And yesterday, the Director of the FBI raised concerns about transferring these men to our local communities. Despite these warnings, the President continues to bow to world opinion.
Let me say emphatically, “Mr. President, public safety comes before public relations.”
The American people don’t want to know how closing Guantanamo Bay will make us more popular, they want to know how closing Guantanamo Bay will make us safer.