Orrin Hatch: “today I rise in support of S. 165, which restores many of the terrorist detainee transfer safeguards that were weakened…”

“today I rise in support of S. 165, which restores many of the terrorist detainee transfer safeguards that were weakened in the fiscal year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, as well as imposes a 2-year bar on the transfer of detainees to Yemen. This legislation has been authored by Senator Kelly Ayotte, one of the Senate's foremost leaders on national security, and its cosponsors include the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain, and the chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Richard Burr, as well as the Senate's preeminent expert on military law, Senator Lindsey Graham. I am honored to add my name to the list of Senators who have cosponsored this legislation. Mr. President, the effect of this legislation is to preserve the ability of the United States to detain at our facilities at Guantanamo Bay members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban--the organizations responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Why is keeping Guantanamo open so important? Simply put, Guantanamo affords our military a safe and secure location to detain those individuals held under the law of war or for violations of the law of war. If an enemy combatant is captured during an armed conflict, that individual can be held under the law of war. It is a generally accepted legal principle, affirmed repeatedly by the Supreme Court, that enemy combatants can be held at least until a conflict is concluded.…”