Washington, D.C. Today, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment, and Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Honolulu) introduced legislation requiring the President to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The bill would close Guantánamo no later than one year after enactment and give various options for the treatment of detainees held there. These options include transfer to a detainee’s country of origin (so long as that country provides certain assurances regarding treatment of the detainee); transfer to a facility in the United States to be tried before military or civilian authorities (like the 1993 World Trade Center bombers and John Walker Lindh); transfer to a qualified international tribunal; or, if appropriate, outright release.
Said Harman: “Guantánamo has become a liability. The real and perceived injustices occurring there have given our enemies an easy example of our failures and alleged ill intent. The prison is so widely viewed as illegitimate, so plainly inconsistent with America’s proud legal traditions, that it has become a stinging symbol of our tarnished standing abroad.”
Rep. Abercrombie added: “The Bush Administration has been able to ignore the hypocrisy in preaching about human rights to other countries while detainees who have been accused — but never charged—are denied fundamental justice in Guantánamo. However, the rest of the world has not ignored it.”
Harman continued: “Make no mistake: this legislation is not about setting terrorists free. Many of those held at Gitmo are the worst of the worst – hard-core haters who cannot be rehabilitated. This legislation is about being true to America’s most fundamental values and legal norms. Closing Guantánamo alone will not heal America’s moral black eye. But it is a necessary first step.”
The House bill is companion legislation to a Senate bill introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Harman’s full statement can be viewed at her website: www.house.gov/harman