Topics in the News: Guantanamo
Chase Oliver on Homeland Security
: Nov 12, 2022
2008: Close Guantanamo; stop drone policies
Q: I've heard you describe yourself as a former Democrat--how did the Democrats lose you? A: I started out my political life as an anti-war activist in the wake of the war in Iraq. I was an ardent supporter of
Barack Obama in 2008, because he promised to close Guantanamo. He said he was going to stop the drone policies of the Bush administration, and the wars.
And he really didn't do any of those things--and yet he got a Nobel Peace Prize. That, to me, was very insulting. And what really bothered me was that the anti-war left that
was marching with me in the streets while Bush was president, completely disappeared while Obama was president. That drove me out of the Democratic Party.
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Source: Rolling Stone magazine on 2022 Georgia Senate race
Donald Trump on Homeland Security
: Jan 30, 2018
Keep Guantanamo open; stop releases & add new prisoners
Terrorists who do things like place bombs in civilian hospitals are evil. When possible, we annihilate them. When necessary, we must be able to detain and question them. But we must be clear: Terrorists are not merely criminals. They are unlawful enemy
combatants. And when captured overseas, they should be treated like the terrorists they are.In the past, we have foolishly released hundreds of dangerous terrorists, only to meet them again on the battlefield--including the ISIS leader, al-Baghdadi.
So today, I am keeping another promise. I just signed an order to reexamine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay.
I am also asking the Congress to ensure that, in the fight against ISIS and al-Qa'ida, we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists--wherever we chase them down.
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Source: 2018 State of the Union address
Donald Trump on Homeland Security
: Feb 23, 2016
Keep Gitmo open, and load it up with bad dudes
Donald Trump promised to keep open the military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, then riffed on ways that he could do it on the cheap: "This morning I watched President Obama talking about Gitmo," said Trump. "Guantanamo Bay--which by the way,
we are keeping open! And we're going to load it up with some bad dudes. We're going to load it up."Trump then mused about one of the Obama administration's reasons for trying to shut the prison down: "Here's the thing
I didn't understand," he said. "We spend $40 million a month on maintaining this place? Now, think of it--$40 million a month! What do we have left in there, like, a hundred people, or something?
And we're spending $40 million? I would guarantee you I could do it for a tiny, tiny fraction. I don't mean $39 million. I mean maybe $5 million, maybe $3 million. Maybe, like, peanuts."
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Source: Washington Post, "Cuba should take over Guantanamo"
Marco Rubio on Homeland Security
: Jan 28, 2016
Send more terrorists to Gitmo; find out everything they know
Sen. Rand PAUL: [For the liberty movement], the NSA is a big issue. Ted Cruz said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, "no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100% of your cell phone records." I don't
think Ted can have it both ways.RUBIO: I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called ISIS.
That's why when I'm president we are going to rebuild our intelligence capabilities. And they're going to tell us where the terrorists are. And a rebuilt U.S. military is going to destroy these terrorists. And if we capture any of these ISIS killers
alive, they are going to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we're going to find out everything they know, because when I'm president, unlike Barack Obama, we will keep this country safe.
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Source: 2016 Fox News Republican two-tiered debate in Iowa
Marco Rubio on Homeland Security
: Jan 21, 2016
Haul terrorists to Guantanamo for enhanced interrogation
Waterboarding may be illegal, but "I would bring it back," says Donald Trump. As for Marco Rubio, he vows to haul captured terrorists to Guantanamo Bay and "find out everything they know."Last year Congress enshrined a torture ban into federal law:
In June, the Senate voted 78-21 to approve an amendment, sponsored by Sens. John McCain and Dianne Feinstein, that became law. Rubio missed the vote but opposed the measure, saying he didn't want to deny future presidents "important tools for protecting
the American people." He also complained about "telegraphing to the enemy what interrogation techniques we will or won't use."
The McCain-Feinstein amendment requires that all interrogation comply with the Army Field Manual, a publicly available
document that forbids waterboarding as well as the use of electric shocks, dogs, nudity, hypothermia and mock executions. All were elements of the CIA's interrogation program in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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Source: Politico.com, "GOP candidates on anti-torture law"
Marco Rubio on War & Peace
: Jan 14, 2016
Against ISIS, either they win, or we win
[Obama] doesn't understand the threat in ISIS. He consistently underestimates it. There is a war against radical jihadists terrorists, and it is a war that they win or we win. When I'm president, we are going to win this war on ISIS.
The most powerful intelligence agency in the world is going to tell us where we are, the most powerful military in the world is going to destroy them. If we capture them alive, they are getting a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
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Source: Fox Business Republican 2-tier debate
Mike Huckabee on Civil Rights
: Sep 16, 2015
Stop criminalization of Christianity, like on gay marriage
I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood
shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith?
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Source: 2015 Republican two-tiered primary debate on CNN
Bernie Sanders on Homeland Security
: Sep 5, 2015
2009: Voted against closing Gitmo; 2015: supports closing it
Bernie supports closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp the United States maintains on the Cuban island, noting it has "significantly damaged the United States' moral standing, undermined our foreign policy, and encourage terrorism rather than
effectively combated it." His opinion refers to abuse and torture, as well as the unlawful detention of inmates at the military prison Amnesty International has called a "gulag of our times."In 2009 Bernie voted against the proposals the
Obama administration suggested for closing the prison. The bill was defeated with strong bipartisan support (90-6). Given Bernie's human rights concerns regarding the facility, he likely voted against it because the
plans did not address the human rights violations--including being held indefinitely without trial--that he and so many other Americans are most concerned about with regards to Guantanamo.
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Source: 2016 grassroots campaign website FeelTheBern.org, "Issues"
Jill Stein on Homeland Security
: Jun 25, 2015
End persecution of government and media whistleblowers
Justice for All: Restore our Constitutional rights, terminate unconstitutional surveillance and unwarranted spying, end persecution of government and media whistleblowers,
close Guantanamo, abolish secret kill lists, and repeal indefinite detention without charge or trial.
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Source: 2016 presidential campaign website, jill2016.com, "Plan"
Bernie Sanders on Homeland Security
: Jun 1, 2014
Don't let released terrorists get back onto the battlefield
Q: On the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl: Was this a wise thing for the president to do [exchanging one American POW held by the Taliban in Afghanistan for 5 terrorist suspects held in Guantanamo]?BERNIE SANDERS: I suspect that if you ask
Bergdahl's feelings about what happened, they will feel very, very good. I think we need to have more information about the long-term consequences, and do everything that we can to make sure that these terrorists do not get back onto the battlefield.
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Source: Face the Nation 2014 interview: 2016 presidential hopefuls
Ron DeSantis on Homeland Security
: Nov 6, 2012
Gave legal support to Gitmo terrorist detention center
As a JAG officer in the United States Navy, he supported operations at the terrorist detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and deployed to Iraq during the 2007 troop surge as an advisor to a U.S. Navy SEAL commander in support of the
SEAL mission in Iraq.He is currently an officer in the reserve component of the United States Navy. He is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. He has lectured on the law of war at Florida Coastal School of Law.
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Source: 2012 House campaign website, voteRon2012.com, "Issues"
Tim Scott on Homeland Security
: Nov 2, 2010
Keep Guantanamo Bay open; keep military tribunals
Tim opposes relocating the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to American soil. Guantanamo is a well-run, state of the art facility that is remote, secure, and in which prisoners are treated humanely, with no signs of detainee mistreatment.
Moving those detainees to a base on the American mainland would make that base a terrorist target. Tim believes that war criminals should be tried by military tribunals, not the US court system, which is not designed for matters of national security.
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Source: 2010 House campaign website, votetimscott.com, "The Issues"
Marco Rubio on Homeland Security
: Aug 11, 2010
No greater risk than radical Islamic terrorists
Q: How would you address both foreign and domestic terrorist threats on the US?A: There is no greater risk to our security than radical Islamic terrorists. We must be active in targeting and destroying terrorist cells and their leaders.
If they are captured, we need to try them before military tribunals in Guantanamo not in civilian courts in Manhattan.
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Source: League of Women Voters 2010 Candidate Questionnaire
Mike Huckabee on Homeland Security
: Dec 9, 2007
Opposes waterboarding; close Guantanamo as a bad symbol
Q: You came out against waterboarding and you also came out for closing Guantanamo Bay because you said that it had become a "symbol," that it represents to the rest of the world about something bad about America.
As president, how important would foreign opinion be in your determining your policies?A: Well, I wouldn't let foreign opinion determine our policies, wouldn't let it dictate it. But we do have to make sure that we live in such a way as
Americans that we have friends, not enemies, across the world. And over the past several years, it seems as we've made even our friends our enemies. We've got to change that. There is an important role that the
United States has as the most powerful nation on earth militarily and economically, to act in such a way that people respect us and that people also realize that we are a great nation, not one that wants to push ourselves on others.
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Source: Fox News Sunday: 2007 "Choosing the President" interviews
Mike Huckabee on Homeland Security
: Jun 10, 2007
Better to make mistakes at Guantanamo to protect Americans
Q: Gen. Powell said, "If it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo. Not tomorrow, but this afternoon." Do you agree?A: I know it's become a symbol of what's wrong. It's more symbolic than it is a substantive issue, because people perceive of
mistreatment when, in fact, there are extraordinary means being taken to make sure these detainees are being given, really, every consideration. Most of our [Arkansas] prisoners would love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo and less like the state
prisons that people are in.
Q: But the argument isn't so much the physical condition as to the legal system that they face. These suspected terrorists, these detainees are being held, by and large, without charges, without any evidence. They're just
being kept there indefinitely.
A: I understand that. There's not a perfect solution. The perfect solution is to get people to quit being terrorists. If we're going to make a mistake right now, let's make it on the side of protecting the American people
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Source: CNN Late Edition: 2007 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer
Mike Huckabee on Homeland Security
: Jun 10, 2007
Guantanamo prisoners are treated very well
Q: General Colin Powell was asked about the status of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, whether suspected terrorists should be housed there. He said:FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL: If it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo.
Not tomorrow, but this afternoon. Every morning I pick up a paper and some authoritarian figure, some person somewhere is using Guantanamo to hide their own misdeeds. And so essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world had in
America's justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open.
Q: Do you agree with Secretary Powell?A: I know it's become a symbol of what's wrong.
It's more symbolic than it is a substantive issue, because people perceive of mistreatment when, in fact, there are extraordinary means being taken to make sure these detainees are being given, really, every consideration.
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Source: CNN Late Edition: 2007 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer
Mike Huckabee on Foreign Policy
: Jan 6, 2006
As governor, visited 41 countries & met with heads of state
Q: You have criticized the Bush foreign policy for what you call its "arrogant bunker mentality." You've said that we should shut down Guantanamo and ban waterboarding. You didn't know about the national intelligence estimate on Iran more than 24 hours
after it was front page news. You didn't know that martial law was lifted in Pakistan two weeks after it was. Can you honestly say that you are ready to be commander-in-chief? A: I've been to 41 countries. I've been to Iraq & Afghanistan. I've been to
Israel nine times. I've been to Syria, Lebanon, Egypt. I've been all over Europe & Asia. I've sat down with the heads of state.
Q: But people see a pattern of either not knowing things or getting things wrong.
A: I don't think it's a pattern.
When you make lots of speeches, there are going to be times when you have more of a slip. But I don't have a slip of my judgment, or a slip of my character, or a slip of the truth. I know where I stand. I have moral clarity. I have convictions.
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Source: 2008 Fox News NH Republican primary debate
Mike Huckabee on Homeland Security
: Jan 6, 2006
Keeping Guantanamo prisoners more important than location
THOMPSON: [To Huckabee]: I disagree with my friend Mike [on whether Bush's foreign policy] is arrogant. Closing down Guantanamo because people will think better of us, and bringing those people here to give them rights that they don't have there.
HUCKABEE: I felt we should keep Guantanamo open until the court case had come down indicating that there was no real substantive difference in whether they were in Guantanamo or Leavenworth. The fact is, I don't care what the rest of the world thinks.
I care what America thinks. And it's become a divisive issue. I visited Guantanamo, & I visited every prison in my state. The truth is, Guantanamo was too darn good. The conditions down there were amazingly hospitable. I thought a little bit too much for
my taste, considering what these people had done. So it's a matter of a policy that brings this country together and not tears it apart. I don't think where we keep these people is as important as it is that we keep them and we don't let them go.
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Source: 2008 Fox News NH Republican primary debate
Page last updated: Jan 01, 2025
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