Cord Byrd: “the bill before us contains funding for a number of items that can hardly be described as emergencies, despite the fact…”

“the bill before us contains funding for a number of items that can hardly be described as emergencies, despite the fact that they are contained in an emergency supplemental funding bill. One of those items that fairly leaps off the page is a $36 million earmark, tucked away in the report under military construction for the Army, to build a new, permanent prison at Guantanamo, Cuba. Why is this tucked away as an emergency? It is to house detainees from the war on terrorism. What struck me about this item is that the American people are being asked to build a permanent prison to house 220 prisoners from the war on terrorism when the courts have not yet determined the legal status of the detainees or whether the United States can continue to hold these individuals indefinitely without charging them with a crime. We are walking on thin ice here--thin ice. If ever there was a case of putting the cart before the horse, this seems to be it. Construction of a new permanent prison in Guantanamo assumes that the United States has in place a solid policy and a valid requirement for the long term internment of detainees at that site when in fact neither the policy nor the requirement has been validated. Ever since the Supreme Court ruled last year that U.S. law applied to Guantanamo, and that prisoners held there could challenge their detentions in Federal Court, the status of the detainees at Guantanamo has been a matter of open debate.…”