|
Tom Harkin
(I hope the links work)
On Wednesday, I introduced the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Act of 2007 to require the Department of Defense to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within 120 days after my bill has been signed into law. In the wake of human rights abuses, leaders from both parties have agreed that the continued operation of this military prison has damaged America's reputation and impeded efforts to fight terrorism.
By continuing to isolate detainees on Guantanamo Bay without bringing charges against them, we have forfeited our moral leadership and hindered our ability to rally support in our fight against terrorism. Closing this facility is our single best opportunity to rally our allies in a more effective fight against terrorism and reduce the risk to Americans traveling abroad.
Under the bill I have introduced, the Administration would be required to at long last resolve the legal status of the 386 prisoners currently held at Guantanamo Bay. Those that the Administration intends to charge with a crime or an offense under the Military Commissions Act would be transferred to the United States Detention Base at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a state-of-the-art, maximum security facility. Those that the Administration does not intend to charge with a crime or an offense would be returned to the custody of their home country or, where necessary, returned to a country where they do not face torture.
However, right-wing extremists such as presidential candidate Mitt Romney not only want to keep Guantanamo Bay open-they want to expand it. I firmly believe that this is the wrong course of action and it will only further damage our reputation and our ability to win the war on terror.
Will you help me ensure that my bill is passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush?
Click here to sign my petition with the ACLU today and help to close Guantanamo Bay in 120 days.
As you know, I have long fought to end human rights abuses around the world. In 1970 when I was a young congressional staffer on a fact-finding trip to Vietnam, I helped to discover so-called tiger cages at Con Son Island. In these tiger cages Viet Cong and North Vietnamese prisoners, as well as civilian opponents of the war, were being held, tortured and killed with the full sanction of the U.S. Government.
I stood up then, just as I am standing up now, to bring an end to human rights abuses. Will you stand with me, the ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch by signing my petition to close Guantanamo Bay in 120 days?
Click here to sign my petition with the ACLU today and help to close Guantanamo Bay in 120 days.
Thank you for your support.
Senator Tom Harkin
Paidfor and authorized by Citizens for Harkin
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
