Media Updates
Washington, D.C. – Senator John Ensign, Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, released the following statement after touring the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay (GITMO) and attending briefings by military leaders.
“After seeing firsthand the facilities at GITMO, it is unnerving to imagine housing these detainees on American soil.
“Guantanamo Bay is the appropriate location because it has state-of-the-art facilities to detain terrorists and conduct military commissions, as well as the advantages of isolation. Hosting military commissions anywhere without a high level of isolation would make it more difficult to protect the classified information presented. That’s why we built a world-class facility at Guantanamo Bay.
“If the American people saw all the amenities for the detainees, they would see that detainees receive first-class medical care and have access to a 14,000-book library, Arabic newspapers, USA Today and instructional classes teaching languages, literacy and art. Members of the International Red Cross have complete and open access to detainees whenever they want and without notice.
“At GITMO, there are multi-level security facilities, depending on a detainee’s behavior. The most common misbehavior is a detainee throwing feces or urine at our troops. Today we visited Camp 7, which is where high-value persons such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and others are held. As a way to gather intelligence from these sources, our interrogators used Enhanced Interrogation Tactics, which led to intelligence that saved thousands of American lives.
“Our troops are incredibly skilled and maintain an extraordinary level of professionalism. I commend all of our men and women of the armed forces for their dedication to keeping the American people safe.”
