9-11 Families Deserve Better

WASHINGTON – Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-Tenn.) Wednesday spoke on the House floor and released the following statement regarding the Administration’s decision to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. civilian courts for trial:

“It is unbelievable to think that a terrorist mastermind captured on a foreign battlefield would be transferred to a civilian courthouse located just steps from Ground Zero and lavished with all the rights and privileges of American citizenship.

In 2006, I voted for the Military Commissions Act, which authorized military commissions to try enemy combatants.  The Congress passed this act by an overwhelming margin, and it was signed into law by President Bush.

However, President Obama issued an executive order in the early days of his administration to stop the process of setting up military tribunals making it necessary for these terrorists to be tried in the United States.   

I hope that the President will listen to the outcry of the American people on this and not continue to insist that these terrorists be tried in American courts with defacto citizenship. This action ignores the will of Congress and the law of the land in order to serve liberal special interests, and all Americans should be sickened by this action.”

Below: Speech delivered on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr. on Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Victim’s Families Deserve Better
Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr.
November 18, 2009

Madam Speaker:

People all over the Nation are upset and angry about five of the Guantanamo terrorists being scheduled for trial in New York.

This is happening only because President Obama issued an Executive Order in the early days of his Administration stopping the military tribunal process.

The Congress – both House and Senate – voted by large margins in 2006 to try these terrorists by military tribunals.        

This could have been done in Guantanamo.

But President Obama overruled Congress by his Executive Order, and the Defense and Justice Departments then started the process of bringing the terrorists to trial in this Country.          

This will result in very large legal and security expenses that would not have been necessary if these men were tried at Guantanamo.

To try all these terrorists here- the first five and others later – creates a very unnecessary security risk for untold numbers of people.

I hope President Obama will listen to the outcry of the American people and not continue to insist that all these terrorists be tried in the United States.

The families of our victims deserve better.