“This legislation would prevent this [US President Barack Obama’s] administration from transferring the most dangerous detainees to other countries and would prevent detainee transfers to Yemen, the headquarters of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and one of the most dangerous countries on earth,” the bill’s sponsor Senator Kelly Ayotte said in a Tuesday press briefing. “It is clear that we need a timeout so that we do not re-confront the terrorists that we had captured and are currently in Guantanamo.”
The legislation includes provisions placing a two year moratorium on the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the United States, to Yemen and bans the international transfer of any detainee, deemed high or medium risk. Additionally, the bill calls for greater transparency by the Department of Defense, which will be required to report the conditions of a detainee release to the public.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a leading cosponsor of the bill, told the press that “America would be wise” to place a two year hold on prisoner transfers out of Guantanamo Bay.
“We can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch the jails be emptied,” he said.
The newly appointed chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain, added his name as a cosponsor, despite previous public support for closing the Guantanamo facility.
Citing high rates of terrorist recidivism, the chairman also asserted that “roughly 30 percent of those who have been released have reentered the fight, and usually at a very high level.”
Of the roughly 127 prisoners reported to be held at Guantanamo prison, Senator Ayotte stated the “vast majority” of them are medium to high risk threats, and under the new legislation could not be moved from the facility. Of the remaining prisoners, 81 are from Yemen, which has come under increased scrutiny in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, where suspects were allegedly trained by AQAP in Yemen, Ayotte added.
During his time in office, US President Barack Obama has attempted to fulfill a campaign pledge to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay. Since his term began in 2009, he has cut the number of detainees nearly in half.
