Your concerns

I signed a petition on Amnesty International.  I got an email back:

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me about the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I appreciate hearing your views.

I agree with President Obama, who stated in April of this year, “I continue to believe that we’ve got to close Guantanamo… [I]t is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe. It is expensive. It is inefficient. It hurts us in terms of our international standing. It lessens cooperation with our allies on counterterrorism efforts. It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed.”

             Numerous U.S. military leaders agree with the President’s assessment. For example, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates has described Guantanamo as “a taint” on the reputation of America, stating that “the name itself is a condemnation” of U.S. anti-terrorism strategy. General Colin Powell has called for closing Guantanamo “not tomorrow but this afternoon” and said that by keeping it open “we have shaken the belief that the world had in America’s justice system…and it’s causing us far more damage than any good we get from it.” Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has endorsed closing Guantanamo, saying “I believe from the standpoint of how it reflects on us that it’s been pretty damaging.”

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, which I guided through the Senate, became law on December 26, 2013. It included provisions that will facilitate the Secretary of Defense transferring Guantanamo Bay detainees to other countries that are usually their home countries. For instance, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to make such transfers only if he determines that the transfer is in the national security interests of the United States and steps have been taken or will be taken to mitigate the risk of the detainee reengaging in terrorist activity. 

In addition, the Senate voted 55 to 43 to support authorizing the bringing of Guantanamo detainees to the United States for detention and trial in our federal courts. Federal courts have ably handled trials for terrorists, and I believe that they could do the same for Guantanamo detainees. Indeed, more than 500 individuals have been convicted of international terrorism charges in the United States and held in our federal prisons. Unfortunately, the majority in the House of Representatives insisted on retaining and extending through 2014 the current prohibitions on bringing persons from Guantanamo to the United States for detention and trial.

Closing the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay will serve to protect our country, will strengthen our position in objecting to the use of abusive tactics on our own troops when they are captured, and will strengthen our standing to object to violations of human rights in other countries. Closing Guantanamo will deprive our enemies of a tool for recruiting radical followers and will improve America’s image as a country that both espouses the ideals of human rights and lives by them.

Thank you again for contacting me.

Sincerely,

Carl Levin

levin.senate.gov