Political Quotes

“the article describes how Salim Hamdan ``has essentially been driven crazy by solitary confinement in an 8-foot-by-12-foot cell, where he spent 22 hours a day, goes to the bathroom, and eats all his meals.'' This is not about abuses from 2002 and 2003, like al-Qahtani and the Abu Ghraib scandal. This is 2008, and I fear it is going to continue as long as Guantanamo is able to operate in its isolated setting, in a highly confined environment, with no visitors and nobody able to go in and talk with inmates. Let me say a little about the status of Guantanamo today. There are approximately 260 detainees being held. They can be divided into roughly three equal groups: those the administration intends on charging with a crime and prosecuting; those the administration says can be transferred to another country, if another country is willing to take custody--and I will admit there are problems there. There are detainees, I know, who are awaiting repatriation to their own country, if they will take them back. In many cases, they will not take them, and that is a problem. We, on the Intelligence Committee, need to pay attention to this and find a solution to it. Third are those who can't be tried for a crime but who are deemed too dangerous to transfer and who, presumably, will be held indefinitely without charge.”