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 A Little Bit Of Hoodwinkery - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 12/15/09 — Wednesday, December 16, 2009 —  Q Does the President understand at all those who have concerns, security concerns about up to 100 detainees at Guantanamo Bay -- (cell phone rings) -- oh, I'm sorry --MR. GIBBS: I like that you still checked it. That was -- (laughter.) Q I think it's from the White House, and it says "private number." You're the only person who -- MR. GIBBS: Somebody is trying to change -- Q It might be you -- I think you're doing a little bit of hoodwinkery. (Laughter.) So, anyway, does he understand at all the concerns that some Americans have about whether or not this puts Illinois in any sort of jeopardy security-wise, one hundred or so detainees coming to one facility? MR. GIBBS: Well, I think what we have to do, Jake, is separate what might be legitimate concern with what is nothing more than scare tactics and hyperbole that we haven't seen in quite some time, even in a glorious town like Washington. Understand that there are I think more than 350 prisoners convicted of terrorist acts currently serving in prisons in the United States. Let me get the list of -- Q They're not all in one facility, they're spread out all over. MR. GIBBS: Right. But understand that just alone in -- see if anybody recognizes these names currently housed in a supermax facility in Colorado -- I would say nobody has ever gotten out of one of these prisons -- Eric Rudolph, the Olympic bomber; Terry Nichols, the co-conspirator of Oklahoma City; Zacarias Moussaoui, the other hijacker; and Richard Reid, who tried to light his shoe on fire that contained a bomb to blow up a 767 over the Atlantic. Those are all housed in one facility. Understand also the President has great confidence in the military of this country. Those are the people that operate Guantanamo Bay. Those are the people that would operate a facility at Thomson. I think if there are concerns for security reasons, I would hope some of those people would address why they think the military can do what they're doing at Guantanamo and can't do it at Thomson. I will say this. I have seen some far crazier comments today -- comments from people like John Boehner. Here's what I would suggest for John Boehner. Call up Leon Panetta or Denny Blair at the CIA or the Director of National Intelligence. Ask them if he can come down and watch a video put out by al Qaeda senior leadership like -- the names that we recognize -- Zawahiri. Thirty-two times since 2001, and four times this year alone, senior al Qaeda leadership and recruiting videos have used the prison at Guantanamo Bay as a clarion call to bring extremists from around the world to join their effort. Closing Guantanamo Bay makes this country safer. And if he's confused about that, or if anybody is confused about that, he can ask the Secretary of Defense in the previous administration, the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the previous administration, the commander for Afghanistan and Iraq that oversees that region of the world from the previous administration, why they support closing Guantanamo Bay and support today's decision. Q In a conference call that the White House established earlier today, senior administration officials told reporters on the call that the goal of the Obama administration is to house those detainees in that fourth category, the ones who cannot be tried and yet cannot be released, of whom there have not been any identified as of yet and signed off by the President -- that the goal would be to ultimately house them at Thomson, and the administration will work with Congress to do that. How would that be constitutional to indefinitely hold somebody in the United States without trial? MR. GIBBS: Understand that the President does not seek new authority; that under the auspices of the declaration from 2001, that would be allowable. But understand this, Jake, what we have said is -- again, that's the collective decision of Congress -- not one individual, the President -- a collective body in Congress -- that would be and can be reviewed as it is now by the judiciary, and has been -- as you know, a number of the transfers have been required by U.S. courts that have said there's no reason to continue to hold this individual. So there are certainly -- that is built into the newer regime that the President is moving forward on. Detainees | Guantanamo | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Detainees, Guantanamo, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, War on Terror, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:35:00 PM 
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