Under the gaze of Hunter Summer, who chaired the House Judiciary Committee from 1931-1947, FBI Director Robert Mueller talks with House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 20, 2009.
(Harry Hamburg/AP)Photos (1 of 1)
Why Democrats buckled to GOP fears on Guantánamo
The Senate denied Obama the money to shut down the prison, in part because Democrats didn't want to be seen as soft on terrorism.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer/ May 20, 2009 edition
Washington
Wednesday’s 90-to-6 vote in the Senate to block the closure of the Guantánamo detention facility followed a weeks-long Republican blitz, which argued that closing the military prison would “release deadly terrorists in American neighborhoods.”
The issue comes at a time when many Democrats believe they have begun to chip away at the GOP’s decades-long status as the trusted party on security issues. Some Democratic senators worried that closing Guantánamo – in the absence of a credible plan from the White House – might undermine that progress, allowing Republicans to cast them as soft on terror.
Democrats at first dismissed the argument. But by Wednesday, all but six Democrats voted with a united GOP caucus to strip $80 million earmarked for the closure of Guantánamo. It had been part of a $91.3 billion defense supplemental bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“It became NIMBY [Not In My Back Yard] on steroids,” says Jennifer Duffy, a Senate analyst for the Cook Political Report in Washington.
The vote coincides with a new poll that shows Democrats at parity with Republicans on the issue of national security for the first time since the Vietnam War.
Some 64 percent of likely voters approve of the job President Obama is doing on national security – six points higher than the president’s overall job-approval rating, according to a poll released Monday by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Democracy Corps, which are Democratic pollsters.
By a nearly 2-to-1 margin, Americans say that Mr. Obama is doing better on national security than his predecessor, President Bush. “This survey signals a possible generational shift in attitudes that could have broad electoral consequences, depriving Republicans of one of their last remaining advantages just when their image has dropped to an all-time low relative to the Democrats,” the report concludes.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California, for one, has been an outspoken critic of Guantánamo. “Guantánamo has been a symbol of abuse and disregard for the rule of law for too long,” she said Wednesday.
Yet she voted against the line item to provide $80 million for closing Guantánamo. She cited public concerns that the president would release terrorists in US neighborhoods. Obama has yet to present a plan to show how the transition from Guantánamo would work, she said.
“No member of Congress wants to see or advocate the reckless release of anyone into our communities,” she added. “I very much regret that this amount [$80 million] was in the supplemental bill without a plan.”
At an oversight hearing of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence Wednesday, Republicans pressed Director Robert Mueller on whether the Obama administration’s decision to close Guantánamo Bay may endanger Americans.
“Terrorists were detained there for a reason – to keep Americans safe,” said Rep. Lamar Smith (R) of Texas, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.
In response, Mr. Mueller said, “Concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from concerns about providing financing to terrorists [to] radicalizing others with regard to violent extremism [and] the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States.”
But those concerns aren’t unique to Guantánamo detainees, he added: “Any individual who comes into the United States from whatever source … may present a challenge.”
For his part, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D) of Hawaii said Guantánamo had become too much of a distraction – to the point that it threatened to delay war funding. “Instead of letting this bill get bogged down over this matter, as chairman of the committee I determined that the better course is to eliminate the funding,” he said on the floor of the Senate just before the mid-day vote.
But he also emphasized the need to close the prison. “Let me be very clear: We need to close Guantánamo prison,” he added. “Our servicemen and woman are doing great work, but the fact of the matter is that Guantánamo is a symbol of the wrongdoing that has occurred, and we need to remove that connection.”
Some experts suggest that the Democrats are playing it safe. “Dems should not feel on the defensive. The polls are still in their favor,” says Julian Zelizer, a political scientist at Princeton University in New Jersey. “But unless Democrats are clear on what they want to do with these detainees, these votes could chip away at that approval level.”
“The promise to close Guantánamo is one of the most important steps Obama made early on,” he adds. “Now, to have Democrats in the Senate backtrack and give the sense that Republicans are regaining their momentum is a blow.”
Republican pollsters challenge the view that the public has moved toward Democrats on national security. According to a poll released last week by Resurgent Republican, a GOP polling and advocacy group, 53 percent of Americans say “harsh interrogation” of detainees – which critics call torture – is justified, compared with 34 percent who say it is not.
Comments
2. Susan A | 05.20.09
This is ridiculous! We have way too many SuperMax prisons, do these people not think that they’re strong enough to hold people who have been detained for years? Tim McVeigh, his partner Nichols, Eric Rudolph, John wayne Gacy, those who bombed the WTC in the 90’s and were convicted and imprisoned. Were these not terrorists?
3. lc | 05.20.09
Seems to me like dems will blame conservatives for everything even when the dems have complete control. Bottom line: dems have control of the the white house and congress so they need to start taking responsibility for their actions. Stop blaming everything on the minority that doesnt have power.
4. Paul Horowitz | 05.20.09
Guantanemo must be closed.It is a national disgrace.By closing it we admit the wrong to ourselves and the world. Only then may we begin to heal as a nation that has violated the very core ideals that we stood for.
The prisoners should be maintained humanely in a security compound within a U.S. military base.The International Red Cross should recieve carte blanch to audit the conditions of the place. Prisoners should be screened for medical needs and they should all have rapid access to a competant attorney. Each case should then be judged accordingly and according to the Rule of Law as to whom should even be released. This stage should be initiated rapidly for humanitarian as well as world political reasons.
5. Kirk | 05.20.09
Jeri,
There is no such thing as morality.
That poll is from Resurgent Republican. Read between the lines.
6. Jacob | 05.21.09
Well what the heck are we going to do now? We can’t go back on our word after we’ve declared that we were going to close Guantanamo. Maybe Obama shouldn’t have declared so soon that he would do so, but now that the promise has been made the absolute worst thing to do would be to renege on it.
7. RB Shea | 05.21.09
Once again the Dems have proven themselves spineless.
This whole “issue” is phony, a red herring stirred up by cynical Republicans and the brain-dead media.
The US has more prisons, including “SuperMax” categories than most countries around the world.
They hold convicted…emphasis on convicted…serial killers, rapists and worse.
Congress continues to demonstrate that you can’t fix stupid.
8. A soldier | 05.21.09
To all the people who have never meet a terrorist, seen a terrorist, and or experienced firsthand the death and destruction they bring to innocent men, women and children please check your attitudes. Reality is these are very evil people who need to die. If you don’t think so ask some people in Iraq, and Afghanistan who have lost family members to their ilk. To the family members, friends and soldiers who have died capturing these terrorist this is a stupid discussion. To all the fools who live in their utopian world please consider the reality of having any one of these monsters living next to you.
9. Proteus6 | 05.21.09
The neocons like to reference the “return” to terrorism of some of the detainees already released. But they do not consider the fact that some may not have “returned” at all, rather joined up after the abominable treatment they received at the hands of their captors. The U.S. government have never offered PROOF of any but a very small number of held suspects. So much for the notion that we are a land of law and justice. The neocons claim to love democratic principles but have not a clue what those principles are. Democracy and moral constitutional justice are difficult to administer. That’s what make them so worthwhile.
10. keith | 05.21.09
The Administration fumbled its PR on this one. The difficulty for Democratic Congresspeople is not the logic or illogic of the position. It is that their elections are local, and if Cheney and Limbaugh, Gingrich and McConnell can scare people into irrational fear, the Democrats cannot fight the tide without losing their seats. When the “booga-booga” campaigns of the GOP begin, they will always swell into an unstoppable wave unless countered early and forcefully. They cannot be ignored, as was done here. At this late date, it will take another extraordinary effort by the Obama folks to rescue their Guantanamo plan–and the US reputation–if it can be done at all.
11. Boots | 05.21.09
Congress is long on symbols and short on substance, not to mention brains. Guantánamo isn’t bad, the people who ran it were bad. I can’t understand why someone can’t just figure out the problem by using the old motto of “adapt, innovate and overcome”? The problem as I see it is this: we don’t have people in high places that know how to do their jobs. It’s that simple. The system has been so corrupted at every level that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot put it together again.
12. Philip Dennany | 05.21.09
The Democrats didn’t buckle, that want the same things as the Repugs, while only pretending to hold the interests of the People, they are every bit as bribe taking corrupt. While there may or may not be a number of criminals or so called terrorists being held in Guantanamo, they are hardly as dangerous as our banana republic leadership.
13. Simplicio T. Soriao | 05.21.09
Guantanamo reminds me of the Devil’s Island where France banished and incarcerated its prisoners. Guantanamo is a far cry from the Devil’s Island given the amenities and treatment afforded the present occupants.
Republican fears that closing the base will lead to greater risk to U.S. security is real. These prisoners, upon their release, will surely join their adherents to continue their cause.
14. maralyn | 05.21.09
I am so glad that the congress was able to see what the prez and his advisors cannot. The arrest of the homegrown terrorist is proof that Gitmo detainees should not be released onto American streets, to become leaders of folks like the homegrown terrorist arrested earlier, as they did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our street will become like the streets of Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel if the home grown terrorist have the benefits of the experience of the detainees at Gitmo. I am amazed that the prez did not research this before he was ever elected. I am in fear for the safety of America. Why would the leader of a country want to relaease into his communities folks who would become a threat to security of those communities and of the country he leads? If the prez cannot see this I can. This is why I fear for my country.
15. keith | 05.21.09
Re Comment 8 by “A Soldier.” He (I assume it’s a he) argues that terrorists are terrible. And therefore? And therefore, apparently, DO ANYTHING! EVERYTHING!! BOOGA BOOGA!!! VOTE GOP!!!! BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA. It reminds me of an old movie line. The hero says to a coward something like “Are you a man or a mouse?” And the coward says, “throw some cheese on the floor and you’ll find out.” Cheney and commentator #8 have thrown down the cheese.
16. Ben | 05.22.09
A good case of the American people playing NIMBY. We are responsible for the war and policies carried out by our leadership, yet the only Americans which have been directly affected are the military. Perhaps its time for the rest of us to take some responsibility. There are supermax prisons in each of the states that voted for the previous administration, states that approved the administrations policies. These POW’s should get distributed accordingly. perhaps proportionally. And the American people should begin to realize that the War on Terror is a Forever War.
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1. Jeri | 05.20.09
An immoral country never has security. The presence of evil pervades and persuades that the boogey man is around the corner. Hopefully the 53 percent who see no problem with torture don’t steep so low as to attend any religious services. Evil is evil. Among the detainees now in the many hundreds only 73 have ever had enough evidence to be charged for anything. Evil is evil