Marathon Pundit: Schilling criticizes Obama's Gitmo plan for terrorist detainees

Monday, March 07, 2011

Schilling criticizes Obama's Gitmo plan for terrorist detainees

The White House announced today that military tribunals for terrorist suspects would return to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But a couple of House Republicans are concerned about Congress not being consulted on the matter. Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-IL), who traveled to Gitmo in January, is one of them.

From a Schilling press release:

Washington, D.C.—Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee today criticized President Obama's White House for attempting to generate detainee policy by executive fiat rather than working with Congress to create a statutory framework that would stand up to judicial scrutiny. Chairman McKeon has offered to work with the Administration (offer linked here) to develop comprehensive policies for the detention and prosecution of detainees captured in the ongoing war against terrorism has been ignored by the White House.

In response to this unilateral executive order Rep. Schilling will be working with Chairman McKeon and other House Armed Services Committee members to draft legislation that would congressionally authorize the legal framework for the prosecution of all terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay and those captured on the battlefield in the future.

Rep. Schilling said, "I am disappointed that the President has unilaterally decided on how to deal with these terrorists. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee I will work to introduce legislation that ensures these enemies of United States are tried as battlefield combatants and are not allowed to be detained or tried on American soil."