WASHINGTON (17 November) - U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, today delivered the following remarks regarding the Obama Administration's plan to bring terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay to the United States for trial.

"I rise to express my outrage about President Obama’s decision to bring the terrorists being held at GITMO to American soil for prosecution in our criminal justice system.

"This dangerous decision will grant these detainees, including the admitted mastermind behind 9/11, constitutional rights to which they most certainly are not entitled.

"Prosecuting these detainees in our criminal courts also will raise the risk that they could be released on technicalities and force our soldiers to worry about things like reading captured combatants their so-called rights and preserving the chain of evidence.
    
"Madame Speaker, President Obama’s decision is a gamble that we simply do not need to take.  These detainees are enemy fighters who should be tried in the military justice system, not in American courtrooms."