U.S. lawmakers blast Obama administration
over ex-Guantanamo prisoner
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[July 08, 2016]
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers
sharply criticized President Barack Obama's administration on Thursday
over the disappearance of a former Guantanamo detainee, calling for an
end to transfers from the prison because of fears former prisoners could
launch attacks on Americans.
They also raised concerns about reports that Jihad Diyab, a Syrian
among six detainees resettled in Uruguay in December 2014, has
disappeared and may now be in Brazil.
Obama is working to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo
Bay, where terrorism suspects have been held for 15 years, by
transferring detainees not considered security threats to foreign
countries.
Republican lawmakers worry that the Obama administration is so eager
to close the prison before he leaves office in January that it is
sending detainees to countries that cannot ensure they will not
return to the battlefield by joining militant groups that target
Americans and U.S. allies.
"You're talking about detainees who have every intent of killing
American families," Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South
Carolina said at a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs
Committee hearing. The administration has considered sending
Guantanamo detainees to a prison in South Carolina.
The New York Times reported that Diyab said last month he was going
on a religious retreat that would last into next week, and would be
unreachable by telephone or email.
Since then, some Uruguayan officials said they lost track of him and
suggested he may have traveled to Brazil, the newspaper reported.
"Many countries just aren't up to the job," said Republican
Representative Ed Royce, the committee's chairman. "... Yet the
administration has sent Guantanamo terrorists to these countries
anyway."
Republican and some Democratic committee members sharply questioned
Lee Wolosky, the State Department's special envoy for closing the
Guantanamo detention center, and Paul Lewis, his Pentagon
counterpart.
Representative Jeff Duncan, another South Carolina Republican, said
Diyab, charged with forging passports for al Qaeda, could pose a
threat to the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, if he were indeed
at large in that country.
The committee's ranking Democrat, Representative Eliot Engel, who
backs the closure of the detention center in Cuba, said it was
important to keep the issue in perspective.
"Under no circumstances, in my opinion, is the Obama administration
simply opening the gate and releasing dangerous terrorists onto the
street," Engel said.
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Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Jihad Ahmad Diyab looks on during an
interview in Buenos Aires February 13, 2015. REUTERS/Enrique
Marcarian
FEW RETURN TO BATTLEFIELD
Lewis and Wolosky said only 5 percent of detainees transferred since
Obama became president have been confirmed to have returned to the
battlefield. The percentage was higher for the over 500 released
under President George W. Bush.
There are currently 79 detainees at Guantanamo, of whom 29 are
eligible for transfer.
Wolosky acknowledged Diyab had been "difficult" from the time he was
transferred to Uruguay. According to the Times, Diyab's friends and
supporters say he is off praying and will re-emerge soon.
Obama has been trying to make good on his 2009 pledge to close the
facility. But Congress has passed laws making it more difficult to
do so, chiefly by barring transfers to U.S. prisons.
Lawmakers are unlikely to lift those restrictions, especially in an
election year. They have proposed even tighter controls on transfers
in a fiscal 2017 defense policy bill, one reason Obama has
threatened a veto.
Guantanamo opponents say holding prisoners for years without charge
or trial goes against fundamental U.S. values and since they are
Muslims, is a recruiting tool for Islamist militants.
Many Republicans insist the prison is an essential tool for handling
suspects who threaten the United States. Donald Trump, the party's
presumptive 2016 presidential nominee, has called for the prison's
expansion.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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