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WASHINGTON- As the country continues to assess yesterday’s
conflicted and inconsistent Presidential address, Rep. Howard P. “Buck”
McKeon, (R-CA) Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, made the
following statement: "Too often, this President has sought to end combat operations through rhetoric rather than reality. He has declared the war in Iraq over, but the insurgency there continues. He has declared an end to combat operations in Afghanistan, but the Taliban fight on. He has now declared the war on terrorism over, despite a terrorist attack in Britain this week, a terrorist attack in Boston last month, and a terrorist attack in Libya that left a U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans dead last year. “He has said he wants to work with Congress to refine the authorization for use of military force to pursue terrorists, but he threatened to veto a Congressional bill to do precisely that.” "The President has said GTMO must close, but offers no plan on what to do with the terrorists currently held there. He has said the threat continues, but he is looking to ultimately repeal this same authorization that underpins his ability to meet that threat. He says terrorists in Yemen pose the gravest threat to the United States, but plans to transfer captured terrorists there. He says he has expanded consultations with Congress, but he has never responded to a single communication about his counterterrorism policies from the Armed Services Committee.” To highlight the inconsistencies in the President’s speech, the Armed Services Committee offers the following: Authorization For Use of Military Force
MYTH: The President is open to adjusting the Authorization for Use of Military Force
to better reflect the threat America faces today: “And that is why I
intend to engage Congress about the existing Authorization to Use
Military Force, or AUMF, to determine how we can continue to fight
terrorists without keeping America on a perpetual war-time footing.”
Transferring Detainees FACT: The House voted to reaffirm the President’s authority to strike associated forces of al Qaeda as part of the AUMF in 2011. These are the very groups President Obama described today as having “continued to plot acts of terror, like the attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009.” Despite this, President Obama threatened to veto the House passed AUMF language.
MYTH: Congressional restrictions are the only impediment to transferring terrorist detainees to third countries.
“Congress imposed restrictions to effectively prevent us from either
transferring detainees to other countries, or imprisoning them in the
United States.”
FACT: While Congress has
required the Secretary of Defense to certify that terrorists transferred
to other countries will not be able to rejoin the fight againstAmerica,
the Secretary has also been given broad authority to waive specific certification requirements in the interest of national security when the threat can be substantially mitigated. In the past several weeks both Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Washington Post editorial page has urged President Obama to use this waiver to transfer detainees.
MYTH: Restrictions on detainee transfer make no sense.
The President asserted that restrictions on detainee transfer “make no
sense. After all, under President Bush, some 530 detainees were
transferred from GTMO with Congress’s support.”
FACT: Many of the remaining detainees are the most hardened terrorists
of the original GTMO population- including the 9/11 plotters.
Restricting terrorist transfers is good national security policy. There
has been a sharp increase in the number of transferred or released detainees who are suspected or confirmed of reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities
(from 7% in 2007 to 27.9% in 2012). The U.S. Intelligence Community
determined in 2010 that if detainees are transferred from GTMO, some
will re-engage.
Closing Guantanamo Bay
MYTH: President Obama says that history will “cast a harsh judgment” on continued detention of terrorists who “have participated in dangerous plots or attacks, but who cannot be prosecuted.”
FACT: The President’s proposals to
date have been to move such terrorist to the United States for
continued detention in recognition of the enduring threat they pose to
our national security. In his speech Thursday, he offered no other
alternative. Indeed he acknowledged that those detainees that “cannot be prosecuted” will continue to pose a problem for policymakers.
MYTH: Politics, not good policy, are the source of opposition to closing GTMO:
“Given my Administration’s relentless pursuit of al Qaeda’s leadership,
there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us
from closing a facility that should never have been opened.”
FACT: Republicans and Democrats
alike are concerned with the President’s determination to close GTMO and
bring terrorist detainees to our shores. They share many concerns,
including constitutional and immigration rights conferred upon foreign
terrorists once they arrive on American soil. That is why a bans on transferring detainees to the United States has passed with broad bi-partisan support every year since 2009.
MYTH: The cost of GTMO is especially or extraordinarily high,
when compared to detaining those terrorists in the United States:
“During a time of budget cuts, we spend $150 million each year to
imprison 166 people –almost $1 million per prisoner.”
FACT: When the Obama
Administration proposed transferring five detainees to Manhattan for the
purpose of trying them in federal court, New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, in consultation with the Justice Department, estimated that it would cost at least $206 million each year to hold just 5 GTMO detainees in the United States.
Consulting With Congress
MYTH: President Obama has expanded his consultations with Congress
to chart a new course for the War on Terror. “After I took office, we
stepped up the war against al Qaeda, but also sought to change its
course. We relentlessly targeted al Qaeda’s leadership. We ended the war
in Iraq, and brought nearly 150,000 troops home. We pursued a new
strategy in Afghanistan, and increased our training of Afghan forces. We
unequivocally banned torture, affirmed our commitment to civilian
courts, worked to align our policies with the rule of law, and expanded
our consultations with Congress.
FACT: President Obama has avoided any meaningful consultation with House Republicans on National Security. On the issue of detainees alone, Chairman McKeon has sent no fewer than 5 letters over the past two years to which the White House has never responded.
Targeted Counter-terrorism Attacks
MYTH: The President has enacted new laws to make sensitive military operations accountable.
President Obama claimed that the Executive Branch policy guidance he
signed Wednesday “codified” “oversight and accountability” for his
counter-terrorism operations: “That’s why, over the last four years, my
Administration has worked vigorously to establish a framework that
governs our use of force against terrorists – insisting upon clear
guidelines, oversight and accountability that is now codified in
Presidential Policy Guidance that I signed yesterday.”
FACT: Only Congress can “codify” oversight and accountability.
An executive policy document is not the law. Next month the House
Armed Services Committee will consider a bipartisan congressional
initiative designed to codify oversight and accountability of military
operations in law. The “Oversight of Sensitive Military Operations Act”
was authored by HASC Vice-Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX).
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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