Political Quotes

“I wish to add as well, this detainee compromise, as Senator McCain and I have talked about before, is actually for--the group of individuals we are talking about here--having military custody for members of al-Qaida or affiliated groups who are planning an attack against the United States or its coalition partners. You think about that category of individuals. The most dangerous category of individuals we have to address is why we came to the compromise in committee, that the default would be military custody for those individuals, and it is inconsistent with the administration's position. If you think about it, they are, rightly so--and I agree with them-- undertaking taking out members of al-Qaida around the world who fall under that category, who are out there killing Americans and plotting against Americans and our allies. Yet they are objecting to a provision, a detainee provision, that would give guidance to our military and intelligence leaders that those individuals should be treated, in the first instance, with military custody. It seems to me to be very inconsistent with what they have been doing in other contexts, and, obviously, this is a category of individuals who, on a bipartisan basis, we agreed in committee was the most dangerous category of individuals, who should be held in the first instance in military custody. I want to add that Mr.…”