Washington, June 10: Republicans have a response to President Barack Obama’s decision to try Guantanamo detainees in federal court using the US justice system: Obama is “importing terrorists.”
In a statement Tuesday, GOP House Minority Leader John Boehner said the decision to try Ahmed Ghailani for his alleged role in the bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in New York is part of a long-term, nefarious Democratic gambit.
“This is the first step in the Democrats’ plan to import terrorists into America,” Boehner said in a statement. “Without a plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, the Administration has made the decision to begin transferring these terrorists into the United States, in spite of the overwhelming opposition of the American people and serious questions from Members of Congress of both parties.
“There are more than 200 of the world’s most dangerous men held at the Guantanamo Bay prison,” Boehner added. “Does the Administration plan to transfer all of them into our nation in this way? Do they plan to give them the same legal rights as the American people? Just what is the Administration’s plan for closing this prison?”
President Obama announced he would close the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as one of his first acts of taking office in January. But he’s encountered stiff resistance from Senate Democrats, who don’t support bringing detainees to the United States, where they’d be kept in supermax federal prisons.
-Agencies