On the recordApril 29, 2015
Section 512 has been included in the MILCON- VA bill for several years, and it is part of the overall policy discussion involving Guantanamo Bay. Identical language is also carried in the 2015 appropriations bill. Again, I respectfully request that the we reject this amendment. I would also add that, at Guantanamo Bay, we have about 120 prisoners there. Among those who are at that facility are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. I believe he is the man who also confessed that he decapitated Dan Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter. He was gruesomely executed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He is a high-value detainee, and there are other high-value detainees there. Many of the prisoners down in Guantanamo are Yemeni, but we certainly can't send them back to Yemen. It is also clear to me that many of these prisoners are very difficult to try and too dangerous to release, so I urge opposition to this amendment. I reserve the balance of my time.
