The Senate on Thursday lurched closer to an all-but-inevitable showdown over the funding of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as Republicans signaled they will offer floor amendments to block the money as expected.
At a mark-up meeting of the full Appropriations Committee, chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) revealed he has included $80 million in the supplemental to close the controversial prison and transfer the prisoners. Inouye also asked Republicans on the committee not to offer amendments until the bill clears the committee and reaches the Senate floor.
Committee member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said he would do so, but made it clear a fight is coming. Echoing a common criticism of Senate Republicans this week, Shelby said it is irresponsible to close the prison until the Obama administration develops a plan for the prisoners.
"It is misguided to close a facility housing terrorists when there is no plan," Shelby said. "The prisoners housed at Guantanamo are terrorists. They attacked our nation and killed our citizens and pose a threat to our national security."
New audio unearthed of Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) comments at a 2004 Senate Judiciary hearing is likely to cause to heartburn for the New York Democrat.
The comments show Schumer was much more willing to tolerate torture than most Democrats are today.
And I'd like to interject a note of balance here. There are times when we all get in high dudgeon. We ought to be reasonable about this. I think there are probably very few people in this room or in America who would say that torture should never, ever be used, particularly if thousands of lives are at stake.
Take the hypothetical: If we knew that there was a nuclear bomb hidden in an American city and we believed that some kind of torture, fairly severe maybe, would give us a chance of finding that bomb before it went off, my guess is most Americans and most senators, maybe all, would say, Do what you have to do.
So it's easy to sit back in the armchair and say that torture can never be used. But when you're in the foxhole, it's a very different deal.
Audio is below, sliced together with Schumer's recent statements on Maddow (courtesy of Ed Morrissey):
"If there are egregious violations of law, they should be prosecuted....The most logical, best place to start is the Justice Department...If they won't do it, someone else is going to have to do it."
Two new developments in the "what did Pelosi know about waterboarding" series spell trouble for the Speaker.
First, CNN reports that an aide told Pelosi in February 2003 that waterboarding had been used on Abu Zubaydah. This contradicts Pelosi's assertion that she only knew about the legal rationale for waterboarding, not that it had been used.
Sheehy attended a briefing in which waterboarding was discussed in February 2003, with Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, who took over Pelosi's spot as the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
This source says Pelosi didn't object when she learned that waterboarding was being used because she had not been personally briefed about it -- only her aide had been told.
This looks pretty bad for Pelosi, as though she avoided any "personal briefing" to maintain deniability.
Second, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is now reluctantly admitting that Congressional hearings on the matter should include questions about what Pelosi knew.
The first of those hearings is today, a Senate Judiciary Committee that starts in, oh, about 5 minutes. The witness lineup today means the Pelosi issue probably won't take center stage, but that might change with future hearings.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), said this week that the President's plan to close Guantanamo Bay would result in over 200 "hard core" terrorists being released into the United States.
"There are 245 hard-core terrorists that would be turned loose in the United States and one of the locations where they would be putting them is Fort Sill," Inhofe told a gathering of constituents, according to the Ada Evening News. "You turn these people loose and they become magnets for terrorism all over the country."
The Obama adminsitration is trying to determine what to do with the remaining 241 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, many of whom have not been charged with a crime.
Republicans have used the prospect of terrorists being released or transferred into the United States to pummel the president. House GOPers recently introduced the "Keep Terrorists Out of America Act," which would prevent the federal government from transferring detainees into the country without the consent of the governor and legislature of the state where they'd end up.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress last month that up to 100 detainees might be held, possibly without trial, in the United States. Attorney General Eric Holder assured Congress last week, however, that no detainee considered to be a terrorist would be released freely into the United States.
At the same meeting, Inhofe said Obama had "completely devastated" the military.
"Liberals like to believe that there's no threat out there," Inhofe said. "[Obama] just doesn
House Republicans released a new video today showing footage of 9/11 and attacking President Obama's decision to close Guantanamo Bay.
The video is part of a Republican offensive against the prospect of transferring or releasing Guantanamo detainees into the United States.
Yesterday, Republicans introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, which would require consent of the governor and legislature of a state before detainees could be transferred there. It would also require the administration to certify that the detainees would not threaten U.S. safety.
Attorney General Eric Holder said yesterday that no one considered a terrorist would be released into the United States.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) is drawing fire for comments he made on Friday suggesting American Muslims don't cooperate with authorities.
In response to news that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had released a report warning of rightwing radicalism, King told MSNBC that DHS "has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police."
King, who is considering a Senate campaign in 2010, defended his comments over the weekend.
"The fact is, the Muslim community does not cooperate with law enforcement," King told Newsday.
This isn't the first time King has made controversial remarks about Muslims. In 2007, King landed in hot water for saying there were ""too many mosques in this country."
Speaking at Camp LeJeune, President Obama laid out his plans for Iraq. Bridget has the story and below are the highlights. Check out Obama's full remarks as prepared for delivery after the jump.
Here are the highlights:
By August 31, 2010, all combat troops will be withdrawn
Between 35,000 and 50,000 troops left in Iraq at that point.
All troops out of Iraq by end of 2011.
"Sustained diplomacy" in the country, working with the U.N. to support national elections and improve local governments
Help for displaced Iraqis. "America has a strategic interest - and a moral responsibility - to act."
Comprehensive American engagement across the region. "As we go forward the United states will pursue principled and sustained engagement with all of the nations in the region, and that will include Iran and Syria."
President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he is sending two more troop brigades to Afghanistan.
Obama said in a statement that the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan "demands argent attention and swift action."
"The Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan," he said, "and al Qaeda supports the insurgency and threatens America from its safe-haven along the Pakistani border."
The president said he has authorized deploying a Marine Expeditionary Brigade this spring and an Army Stryker brigade later in the summer. The brigades will total approximately 12,000 troops, according to news reports.
Obama campaigned on the need for a new strategy in Afghanistan. Once he took office, though, it became unclear what that strategy would be an how many additional troops it would entail.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) visited the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay today, coming away with favorable impressions of the facility and its staff.
Burr blogged about the trip on his Senate website this afternoon, praising the detention facility as "in keeping with our Nation's highest ideals."
See part of Burr's post below:
From my visit today, it appears to me that everything from the design of the facilities to the detailed operating procedures of the guard force, medical professionals, and support staff is well thought out and in keeping with our Nation's highest ideals.
If anyone receives mistreatment at Guantanamo, it is the guard force. They must endure frequent verbal and physical attacks from detainees while maintaining the highest standard of care for those same individuals.
Instead of focusing on closing the facility at Guantanamo Bay, we need to think long and hard about where we can hold some of these very hardened and dangerous individuals, many of whom could never be incarcerated in the United States.
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