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04-23-09, 06:58 AM
Last modified Wednesday, April 22, 2009 7:08 PM PDT
MILITARY: Lawmakers want Guantanamo funds blocked
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
A group of Republican lawmakers wants to block the Obama administration from getting $80 million to close the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and relocate terror suspects to U.S. soil.
The effort led by Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-El Cajon, has the backing of at least 17 other GOP lawmakers, including North County Reps. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, and Darrell Issa, R-Vista.
In a letter being delivered to the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, the lawmakers say spending any money to close the prison absent any congressional hearings is wrong.
The lawmakers also object to any of the detainees being transferred to U.S. military bases such as Camp Pendleton north of Oceanside and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in north San Diego.
"Our gravest concern with providing this funding is the lack of a clear and comprehensive strategy for the closure and the relocation," the lawmakers say in their letter.
"If the administration is serious about closing Guantanamo Bay without jeopardizing our security, then the administration needs to work directly with Congress to create a detention process that keeps detainees off U.S. soil."
Hunter, Issa and Bilbray also have introduced a bill that would prevent the transfer of any detainees to Camp Pendleton or Miramar and forbid using federal funds to enhance detention facilities on those bases to house terror suspects.
In one of his first acts after being sworn into office, President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing the closure of Guantanamo within a year and appointing a task force of officials to develop a plan for the shuttering of the prison and transferring any remaining detainees.
Guantanamo has generated controversy since the Bush administration established it shortly after the terror attacks of 9/11. Documents show inmates there were tortured during the Bush years under authority granted in previously secret memos.
The prison's closure was backed by a group of 16 retired U.S. generals, including former Marine Gen. David Brahms of Carlsbad, who said the symbolism of Guantanamo and the activities there sent a negative message about the U.S. around the world.
Officials at the Defense Department will not comment directly on the status of the Guantanamo closure plan and have said only that the department is carrying out the president's directive.
Pentagon officials toured Camp Pendleton and Miramar earlier this year as the agency developed a list of possible relocation sites for detainees who aren't returned to their countries of origin or transferred to the custody of other nations.
Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper said Wednesday that the two San Diego County Marine Corps bases remain on the list of potential relocation sites.
"It's a problem because it is a distraction to the wartime training missions at both facilities," Kasper said. "And Congressman Hunter views it as an insult to the Marines and their families being housed with the same terrorists they are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has rejected those types of assertions, saying earlier this year that moving terror suspects to bases would not pose a safety threat or disrupt installation operations.
In their letter to House appropriators, however, Hunter and the other lawmakers say there has been no solid case made for closing Guantanamo and that "bringing detention operations to a grinding halt will not help us achieve victory any quicker or make the American people any safer."
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
MILITARY: Lawmakers want Guantanamo funds blocked
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
A group of Republican lawmakers wants to block the Obama administration from getting $80 million to close the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and relocate terror suspects to U.S. soil.
The effort led by Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-El Cajon, has the backing of at least 17 other GOP lawmakers, including North County Reps. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, and Darrell Issa, R-Vista.
In a letter being delivered to the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday, the lawmakers say spending any money to close the prison absent any congressional hearings is wrong.
The lawmakers also object to any of the detainees being transferred to U.S. military bases such as Camp Pendleton north of Oceanside and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in north San Diego.
"Our gravest concern with providing this funding is the lack of a clear and comprehensive strategy for the closure and the relocation," the lawmakers say in their letter.
"If the administration is serious about closing Guantanamo Bay without jeopardizing our security, then the administration needs to work directly with Congress to create a detention process that keeps detainees off U.S. soil."
Hunter, Issa and Bilbray also have introduced a bill that would prevent the transfer of any detainees to Camp Pendleton or Miramar and forbid using federal funds to enhance detention facilities on those bases to house terror suspects.
In one of his first acts after being sworn into office, President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing the closure of Guantanamo within a year and appointing a task force of officials to develop a plan for the shuttering of the prison and transferring any remaining detainees.
Guantanamo has generated controversy since the Bush administration established it shortly after the terror attacks of 9/11. Documents show inmates there were tortured during the Bush years under authority granted in previously secret memos.
The prison's closure was backed by a group of 16 retired U.S. generals, including former Marine Gen. David Brahms of Carlsbad, who said the symbolism of Guantanamo and the activities there sent a negative message about the U.S. around the world.
Officials at the Defense Department will not comment directly on the status of the Guantanamo closure plan and have said only that the department is carrying out the president's directive.
Pentagon officials toured Camp Pendleton and Miramar earlier this year as the agency developed a list of possible relocation sites for detainees who aren't returned to their countries of origin or transferred to the custody of other nations.
Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper said Wednesday that the two San Diego County Marine Corps bases remain on the list of potential relocation sites.
"It's a problem because it is a distraction to the wartime training missions at both facilities," Kasper said. "And Congressman Hunter views it as an insult to the Marines and their families being housed with the same terrorists they are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has rejected those types of assertions, saying earlier this year that moving terror suspects to bases would not pose a safety threat or disrupt installation operations.
In their letter to House appropriators, however, Hunter and the other lawmakers say there has been no solid case made for closing Guantanamo and that "bringing detention operations to a grinding halt will not help us achieve victory any quicker or make the American people any safer."
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie