Political Quotes

“Yes, and yesterday some of our colleagues came to the floor to argue that my amendment would limit the choices available to our Commander-in-Chief in prosecuting terrorists. I would ask the Republican leader the following: In January of 2009, did President Obama, when he first came into office, issue Executive orders ending the Central Intelligence Agency's detention program, ending the CIA's option for using enhanced interrogation techniques, ordering the closure of the secure detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prior to any study being done concerning how to dispose of the population of enemy combatants there--we now know that 27 percent of them are back in theater--and suspending military commissions? Mr. McCONNELL. Well, of course, the Senator from New Hampshire is entirely correct. President Obama has unilaterally restricted the tools available to him for combating terrorism, including by ordering the closing of Guantanamo Bay prior to having any plan for dealing with the population of the Yemeni detainees who are almost certain to return to the fight if they are released from Guantanamo Bay. It seems that once the President shut down the ability of the CIA to detain enemy combatants and refused to transfer further detainees from Guantanamo Bay, that many of us were waiting for the obvious test case to come along in which a terrorist was captured outside Iraq or Afghanistan and needed to be interrogated and detained.…”