Jerry Nadler: “We keep hearing that the people of Guantanamo are the worst of the worst, that they are very dangerous, and that their…”

“We keep hearing that the people of Guantanamo are the worst of the worst, that they are very dangerous, and that their release would pose a threat to the United States. Some are, it is true. Some are probably the worst of the worst, but some aren't. Some are people who were picked up by mistake. Some are people who were sold for a bounty. If you go into a wild place like Afghanistan and you let the word out that we will pay $5,000 for a terrorist and the McCoys are fighting the Hatfields, the McCoys will turn in a Hatfield and say that he is a terrorist. Some of that happened. It is our job not to keep everybody in jail for life but to figure out who is who: who is the worst of the worst; who is innocent; who is there because of a mistake. Release those who are innocent; release those who do not pose a threat; and release those who didn't do anything. Simply getting up and repeating time after time on this floor that the people there are the worst of the worst doesn't make it true. What kind of a system of justice or anything else is it where you say: We are going to hold forever, with no trial, people who we have already determined to pose no threat to the United States, who we have already determined have done nothing wrong, but we are going to hold them in jail forever because some of them are bad people--no trial, no proceeding, hold them in jail forever? By what right would we do that?…”