On the recordOctober 20, 2011
I do, and the Republican leader is correct that this test case shows that in capturing rather than killing terrorists, we can gain valuable intelligence. Instead of sending Warsame to Guantanamo, though, he was held and interrogated at sea for approximately 2 months. Then law enforcement officials were brought in to read Warsame his rights. I wish to take a minute to address arguments that were made on the floor earlier by Senator Levin from Michigan, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He claimed that if my amendment were to pass, Mr. Warsame would escape justice because we wouldn't be able to prove that he was, in fact, planning an attack against the United States. I wish to point out that if that were the case, my amendment would not apply because my amendment applies to members of al-Qaida or affiliated groups who are also planning or have carried out an attack against the United States, so he would be able to be held fully accountable in the civilian court system. I wanted to correct that because I think that leaves a misimpression that Mr. Warsame would not be or could not be held accountable under our law. The second problem with the analysis of the Senator from Michigan is that it ignores what is going on here.…
