More on Mil Coms to Come

Lest anyone think last week’s pair of hearings were Congress’ last word on the question of military commission trials, the House Armed Services Committee has already scheduled it own hearing on reforming the Military Commissions Act. The July 16 witness list features the head lawyer from each of the armed services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines).

Also, in keeping with Congress’ stepped up pace on these issues, there are at least some hopeful signs of push back from the security community itself against Congress’ ill-considered decision a few weeks back to preclude the President from transferring any of the Gitmo detainees to the United States. A star-studded list of military and intelligence community experts sent a public letter to Congress last week arguing that finding ways to transfer some detainees to the United States is essential to closing Gitmo – which is itself a goal that remains at the core of U.S. national security interests. Among the signatories: Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit (Deputy Director of Operations in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom); Phil Zelikow (State Department Counselor in the G.W. Bush Administration); Bob Hutchings (head of the National Intelligence Council also under G.W. Bush); Ali Soufan (former FBI agent who famously testified to the ineffectiveness of torture in interrogation); and many more. I haven’t seen I haven’t seen a link to the letter anywhere, so I’m pasting the full text as emailed to me after the jump.

July 10, 2009

A message to Congress from National Security and Terrorism Experts:
Blocking the government from bringing any Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. is unnecessary and harmful to our national security. We do not presume in this statement to address all of the complex issues surrounding the detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay. However, the undersigned national security and counterterrorism experts agree on the following:
• Closing Guantanamo will be a net benefit to our counterterrorism efforts.
• This will likely require bringing some terrorists to the U.S. for trial, detention, or, if appropriate, resettlement.
• America should not be afraid to bring Guantanamo detainees to the U.S.
Transferring some Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. will aid the fight against terrorists.

For millions of people around the world, Guantanamo represents the excesses of post-9/11 policies and reportedly has been a recruitment boon for violent extremists. Closing Guantanamo will eliminate an ongoing source of propaganda for terrorists’ efforts to generate sympathy and recruit supporters.
America has a long history of bringing terrorists to justice in our courts. Some Guantanamo detainees can be prosecuted for crimes in US courts, undermining the terrorists’ myth that they are “holy warriors” and revealing them instead as criminal thugs. De-glamorizing terrorists in this way undermines their recruitment efforts.
Nearly 60 detainees were already cleared for release by the last Administration, some as long as six years ago, but remain in Guantanamo awaiting agreement from any nation to admit them. Countries have indicated an unwillingness to resettle non-threatening detainees if the U.S. blocks any from coming here. Finding ways to resettle some detainees in the U.S. is essential to closing Guantanamo.

America is capable of holding terrorists securely in U.S. prisons.

As a recent Justice Department fact sheet noted, there are currently 216 inmates in federal prisons for crimes related to international terrorism, including the masterminds of the first World Trade Center bombing, the terrorist who plotted to bring down multiple US airliners, and terrorists who planned to blow up bridges and tunnels in New York. No terrorist has ever escaped from a U.S. prison.
America is strong enough to bring terrorists to justice, detain those who should be detained, and release those who should not be detained.

Congress, trust the strength of our system and steadfastness of the American people.