Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) released the following statement yesterday on a federal judge’s order to release a Guantanamo detainee:
TUESDAY, March 23, 2010
BOND CALLS DECISION TO RELEASE GTMO TERRORIST DANGEROUS
Senator Points to Slahi Case as Latest Evidence that Nation Needs Coherent Detainee and Interrogation Policy
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kit Bond, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, today called the decision by a federal judge to release one of the deadliest terrorists at Guantanamo Bay dangerous and outrageous and the latest evidence that our nation needs a coherent detainee and interrogation policy.
“Once again, the courts have put the rights of terrorist detainees above the safety of Americans. How many more dangerous terrorists will be released before we have a coherent detainee and interrogation policy?” said Bond. “Unless Americans want unelected and unaccountable judges making national security decisions, Congress must act now.”
On Monday, a federal judge ordered Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a terrorist identified in the bipartisan 9/11 Commission report as a September 11th participant, to be released from Guantanamo Bay. The court found that the government did not have legal grounds to hold this terrorist and granted his petition for habeas corpus relief. Bond–who noted that until the Supreme Court extended habeas corpus rights to terrorist detainees a few years ago, this constitutional right was given only to people in the U.S.– blasted the judge’s decision and urged the government to appeal.
Given the Administration’s rush to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, however, Bond stressed that he is not confident that Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department will act.
“While Holder’s Justice Department should appeal this outrageous decision, I’m not holding my breath,” said Bond. “Holder seems more intent on closing Guantanamo Bay than keeping terrorists locked up where they belong.”
Bond pointed to the court’s decision as indicative of a larger problem facing our nation–the lack of any coherent detainee and interrogation policy since the Administration took Guantanamo Bay off the table without providing a backup plan for detaining terrorists. In spite of repeated urging from Congress, Administration officials have thus far refused to work with Congress to craft a detention and interrogation system for handling the questioning of terrorists like Usama bin Laden who may be captured overseas–or, as we saw on Christmas Day– for interrogating terrorists captured inside the United States.
Bond urged his colleagues in Congress to turn their attention to crafting and passing bipartisan legislation that clearly outlines a coherent detention and interrogation policy for terrorists like Slahi and bin Laden. The Senator emphasized that any legislation must lay out a solid framework without tying the hands of our terror-fighters.
“What we need is flexible and reasonable legislation that will allow us to detain captured terrorists, legally question them to gain intelligence, and, if necessary, prosecute them without compromising our intelligence sources and methods. Anything less will not be worth the paper it’s written on,” Bond said.
