The senior Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee wants no more Guantanamo Bay detainees released to Yemen in the wake of a Christmas Day terrorist attack hatched in that country.
“Guantanamo detainees should not be released to Yemen at this time,”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Emiel FeinsteinLawmakers call for including creation of Latino, women's history museums in year-end spending deal Biden appointments give Newsom chance to reshape California politics The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Congress moves to avert shutdown as virus talks stall again MORE (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “It is too unstable.”
Feinstein’s warning comes just nine days after the Department of Justice
announced the most recent transfer of 12 detainees from Guantanamo Bay to
Afghanistan, Yemen and Somaliland. Six of the 12 were transferred to the
government of Yemen.
An al Qaeda wing in Yemen claimed responsibility for last
week’s attempted bombing of the Northwest Airlines flight headed to Detroit.
The organization known as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
said the plot was retaliation for U.S. assistance to Yemen’s military, which
has launched air strikes on safe house and training camps in recent weeks that
killed as many as 60 al Qaeda members.
In addition, two of the planners behind the Christmas Day
bombing plot had been released to Saudi Arabia from Guantanamo Bay in 2007 and
ended up rejoining terrorist ranks in Yemen, according to a report by ABC
News’s Brian Ross.
Feinstein joins a chorus of Republicans who have issued
warnings about the release of detainees in the aftermath of Friday’s attempted
attack on the passenger jet.
Sens. Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Olin GrahamSenate GOP warns Biden against picking Sally Yates as attorney general Top GOP senators acknowledge Biden as president-elect after Electoral College vote Senate GOP leaders seek to put an end to election disputes MORE (R-S.C.), John McCain
John Sidney McCainFive things to know about Lloyd Austin, Biden's Pentagon pick The Memo: Democrats grapple with 'elite' tag Arizona GOP asks if followers willing to give their lives to 'stop the steal' MORE (R-Ariz.) and Joe
Lieberman (I-Conn.) on Tuesday sent a letter to President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein ObamaHow Congress can kickstart COVID herd immunity Obama jokes about birther conspiracy: 'I was able to get away with' not being born in US An apology for the Electoral College MORE asking
him to halt the transfer of six Guantanamo detainees to Yemen given the danger
they realize that country now poses.
Obama on Tuesday blamed a “systemic failure” in the nation’s security apparatus for the attempted bombing and vowed to identify the problems and “deal with them immediately.” He said a review of the failures would be completed by Thursday.
Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, urged Obama to “rethink” his decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in the wake of last week’s attack.
He said reports that two of the planners behind the
Christmas Day plot had been released from Guantanamo Bay in 2007 should
immediately force Obama to call back former detainees recently released in
Yemen and elsewhere.
“The president ought to rethink it now,” Bond told The Hill. “The question is, Are we going to take every step possible to keep our country safe? That means stop releasing Gitmo detainees now.”
Obama has so far stood firm in his decision to shutter
Guantanamo, arguing its closure would restore international credibility in the
U.S. legal system. The president has pledged not to release any detainee who
would endanger the American people and set up the Guantanamo Review Task Force
to review information about detainees before making a decision on whether to
release them.
In the Dec. 20 announcement about the detainees’ release, the Justice
Department said the task force had conducted a “comprehensive review” in each
of the cases, examining potential threat and mitigation measures. More than 560
detainees have departed Guantanamo Bay for 36 countries since 2002, according
to Justice.
When he took office, the president set a one-year deadline to close the
prison but earlier this month acknowledged it would slip as he looks for places
to transfer the detainees, including the Thomson Correctional Center in
Illinois
The White House did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Feinstein’s and Bond’s warnings demonstrates heightened concern in the intelligence community about the rate of recidivism for released Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Earlier this year, the Department of Defense confirmed that at least 18 detainees who were released had rejoined the terrorist ranks. The Pentagon suspected another 43 of doing the same.
Bond said the Obama administration should have learned from the mistakes of the Bush administration.
“The Bush administration made a mistake — they experimented,” Bond said. “Why you wouldn’t learn from your mistake is beyond me. Why the administration would continue to do things that have proven to be disastrous is incomprehensible.
“I am really steamed on this. This is a real threat to our homeland. Terror is something we’re not just fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Bond sent the White House a letter in May asking Obama to
release information the Guantanamo Bay Review Task Force used in determining
each detainee’s propensity for recidivism. In December, Bond sent a letter to
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, asking him to declassify a
recent report containing updated recidivism statistics on released Guantanamo
Bay detainees. Neither letter received an answer.
Bond said he has yet to be briefed about the details
surrounding the bombing plot, although the administration has set up an
intelligence committee staff briefing that will take place “soon.”
In addition to providing reasons for reconsidering plans to close Guantanamo Bay, Republicans argue the intelligence breaches show why Congress should extend the Patriot Act as initially approved in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Just before the holiday break, Congress passed a two-month extension on three Patriot Act powers that would have expired at the end of the year.
After the two months are up, the House and Senate will be forced to reconcile their differences over whether Congress should reauthorize key Patriot Act components, including the “lone wolf” records and “roving wiretap” powers. The “lone wolf” power allows the government to track targets who don’t have any discernible affiliation with terrorist or other foreign groups. The bill would reauthorize the powers for four years.
