Webb splits with Obama on timing for closing Guantanamo
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., says he now disagrees with President Barack Obama's timetable to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in January 2010.
But Webb supports Obama's idea of reviving military commissions to try some terror suspects.
Webb, appearing on ABC's "This Week" program, acknowledged that in January 2009 he said the president had established a reasonable timeline for closing the detention center.
He said yesterday that he has changed his mind on the timetable.
"We spent hundreds of millions of dollars building an appropriate facility with all security precautions at Guantanamo to try these cases," Webb said.
"I do not believe they should be tried in the United States."
He added: "We should at the right time close Guantanamo, but I don't think that it should be closed in terms of transferring people here."
Senate Democrats are proposing legislation that would fund closure of the Guantanamo prison, but would also block transfer of any of its prisoners to the U.S.
This week Obama said he would bring back military commissions for some Guantanamo detainees, adding reforms to provide more due-process rights.
Webb said he makes a distinction between people held in Guantanamo and others charged with crimes within the U.S.
"The people who have been held in Guantanamo are being charged essentially for acts of international terror, for acts of war and they don't belong in our judicial system. They don't belong in our jails."
Webb said he supports military commissions because "there are issues of evidence that you cannot take care of inside the regular American court system," such as classified information that might have an impact on how the U.S. collects intelligence.
"There are facilities built in Guantanamo right now that are able to do that," Webb said.
The Guantanamo detainees include 17 Chinese Muslims who fled persecution in Western China. Webb said he would not accept them in Virginia.
"On the one hand it can be argued that they were simply conducting dissident activities against the government of China," Webb said.
"On the other, they accepted training from al-Qaida, and, as a result they have taken part in terrorism. I don't believe that they should come to the United States."
Reader Reactions
Let me get this straight…Senate Dems are proposing legislation to fund the closure of Gitmo, yet explicitly prevents the prisoners’ disposition? Brilliant!
Webb is a moron!
Great strategy Jim! Stake out a position on BOTH sides of this matter, that way, come the next election, you can adjust your message to make any given audience applaud. Born compromising!!
The dems mounted national political campaigns that excoriated the Bush administration for its military commissions and called for the closure of the detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay. They convinced a majority of the American people that these practices were stains on the national reputation. They won the elections and installed a president and majority of congressional seats. But now their president has reversed himself on the military commissions, and they can’t set a firm date for closing the detainee camps. One wonders whether the basis of their platform was false to begin with or if they’ve learned new information (that they’re not now sharing) that rendered that platform invalid. Having voted for their platform, the American people need to demand that they implement the “chang that we hoped for,“ and accept the consequences of victory.
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