One Year Later, Closing GITMO Still A Bad Idea

I issued the following statement today regarding President Obama’s pledge on January 22, 2009, to close Guantanamo Bay no later than today, January 22, 2010:

Closing GITMO was a bad idea a year ago and it remains a bad idea today. I was profoundly concerned when the President announced last January he would close GITMO and dismantle major portions of his predecessor’s counterterrorism program, which had kept Americans safe from the threat of terrorism since September 11, 2001.

Since then, our nation has been blindsided by a horrific terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas, and a Christmas day terror plot that came far too close to completion in the skies over Detroit. Fortunately for Americans, what is yet another missed deadline for the President is one more day that we are protected from the security risks posed by moving GITMO to middle America.

Today I call on the President, with the benefit of one year’s worth of hindsight, to reconsider his ill-conceived campaign pledge to close GITMO. This will restore a needed sense of seriousness to our nation’s counterterrorism efforts and send a powerful message to al Qaeda and its allies that the safety of the American people is more important than world opinion and left-wing handwringing.