WASHINGTON -- Days after touring the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark). introduced legislation that would likely ensure the prison remains open for future lawmakers to visit as well.
Cotton, apparently unbowed by the outcry over his recent open letter to Iranian leaders, introduced a bill on Wednesday that would cut U.S. funding to countries that receive former Guantanamo detainees who are later suspected of terrorism. He toured the prison March 13 with three other senators.
Cotton's Guantanamo Bay Recidivism Prevention Act of 2015 comes after his unsuccessful effort to slip similar language into a different bill during a closed-door Senate Armed Services Committee meeting last month. As The Huffington Postreported, Cotton suggested an amendment to a bill aimed at restricting detainee transfers out of Guantanamo. The amendment would have cut funds to any country that accepted detainee transfers.
Since November, 27 detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo, leaving 122. Of those, 54 have been cleared for transfer.
Cotton, along with several other Republican lawmakers, is determined to stop the releases. “Until President Obama stops releasing Guantanamo Bay detainees, Congress must do everything in its power to stop recidivism,” Cotton declared when he introduced his bill.
“President Obama seems to have little concern for what happens after a detainee leaves Guantanamo Bay. But these detainees are hardened terrorists and their release puts U.S. lives and our national-security interests at risk,” Cotton added.
Brian P. McKeon, deputy under secretary of defense for policy, in February told Senate Armed Services Committee members, including Cotton, precautions the White House takes to prevent former Guantanamo detainees from returning to the battlefield.
McKeon also explained that Obama is not the one who signs off on transfers. After a lengthy interagency review process, described by McKeon, the secretaries of state, homeland security, and defense, along with the director of national intelligence, the attorney general, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, must unanimously approve any proposed transfer.
Cotton claimed when he introduced the bill that “almost one in three detainees released from Guantanamo Bay are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight.” However, in the February hearing that Cotton attended, McKeon pegged the recidivism rate at 17.3 percent. Since Obama took office in 2009, the recidivism rate for transferred detainees is 6.8 percent, he said. Of the 107 former detainees confirmed to have re-engaged in violent activity, 48 are either in custody or no longer alive.
McKeon told lawmakers Guantanamo's continued existence should be their primary concern, not the potential for recidivism. “Guantanamo weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies, and is used by violent extremists to incite local populations,” he said.
More than 50 countries have agreed to host former Guantanamo detainees, including key U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, the U.K., and Canada.
More: Tom Cotton Wants To Punish Countries That Take Guantanamo Prisoners -- Including U.S. Allies
Cotton seems to be a loose canon who is desperate to make a name for himself. I suspect he also has presidential ambitions.
Cotton, apparently unbowed by the outcry over his recent open letter to Iranian leaders, introduced a bill on Wednesday that would cut U.S. funding to countries that receive former Guantanamo detainees who are later suspected of terrorism. He toured the prison March 13 with three other senators.
Cotton's Guantanamo Bay Recidivism Prevention Act of 2015 comes after his unsuccessful effort to slip similar language into a different bill during a closed-door Senate Armed Services Committee meeting last month. As The Huffington Postreported, Cotton suggested an amendment to a bill aimed at restricting detainee transfers out of Guantanamo. The amendment would have cut funds to any country that accepted detainee transfers.
Since November, 27 detainees have been transferred from Guantanamo, leaving 122. Of those, 54 have been cleared for transfer.
Cotton, along with several other Republican lawmakers, is determined to stop the releases. “Until President Obama stops releasing Guantanamo Bay detainees, Congress must do everything in its power to stop recidivism,” Cotton declared when he introduced his bill.
“President Obama seems to have little concern for what happens after a detainee leaves Guantanamo Bay. But these detainees are hardened terrorists and their release puts U.S. lives and our national-security interests at risk,” Cotton added.
Brian P. McKeon, deputy under secretary of defense for policy, in February told Senate Armed Services Committee members, including Cotton, precautions the White House takes to prevent former Guantanamo detainees from returning to the battlefield.
McKeon also explained that Obama is not the one who signs off on transfers. After a lengthy interagency review process, described by McKeon, the secretaries of state, homeland security, and defense, along with the director of national intelligence, the attorney general, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, must unanimously approve any proposed transfer.
Cotton claimed when he introduced the bill that “almost one in three detainees released from Guantanamo Bay are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight.” However, in the February hearing that Cotton attended, McKeon pegged the recidivism rate at 17.3 percent. Since Obama took office in 2009, the recidivism rate for transferred detainees is 6.8 percent, he said. Of the 107 former detainees confirmed to have re-engaged in violent activity, 48 are either in custody or no longer alive.
McKeon told lawmakers Guantanamo's continued existence should be their primary concern, not the potential for recidivism. “Guantanamo weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies, and is used by violent extremists to incite local populations,” he said.
More than 50 countries have agreed to host former Guantanamo detainees, including key U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, the U.K., and Canada.
More: Tom Cotton Wants To Punish Countries That Take Guantanamo Prisoners -- Including U.S. Allies
Cotton seems to be a loose canon who is desperate to make a name for himself. I suspect he also has presidential ambitions.
