As AG, I will strongly oppose moving terrorist detainees to Virginia

According to the Washington Post, the Obama administration is pushing to transfer some of the terrorist detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into Virginia for trial in a U.S. federal criminal court, possibly in Alexandria.

I am strongly opposed to this idea. I believe this administration plan would: ignore the benefit of using Guantanamo Bay; impede our conduct in that war; be cost-prohibitive to our government and physically dangerous to our citizenry; be largely ineffective in punishing these terrorists; and be totally unprecedented in U.S. history.

First of all, part of the benefit of having a facility such as Guantanamo Bay is to hold people such as terrorist detainees. It is isolated from civilian populations and it is impossible to escape from.

Second, moving these detainees to the commonwealth would impede our conduct of the War Against Terrorism. The fact is this nation is currently at war with Islamic jihadist groups worldwide. As a nation at war we are utilizing our military to physically attack our enemies, to gather intelligence, to detain captured opponents, and to prevent future enemy attacks. This is what our military is trained to do.

However, by transferring these Gitmo detainees to our criminal courts for prosecution, the administration will be asking the military to perform law enforcement functions in the War Against Terrorism.

Third, moving these detainees is cost-prohibitive to our government and physically dangerous to our citizenry. As the Washington Post has noted, Alexandria “(c)ity officials and some legislators are concerned that terror trials would take years, shut down roads and cost millions and could invite attacks from terrorist sympathizers. Business owners in the dense area around the courthouse — newly filled with hotels, restaurants and luxury apartments — fear disruptions amid a declining economy.”

The physical danger to our citizenry is also not to be dismissed. Let us not forget the U.S. trial of Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, a co-founder of al-Qaeda, where Salim used his access to his lawyers to attempt an unsuccessful escape that left one of his guards permanently maimed.

Fourth, moving these detainees into the U.S. court system would not be a very effective strategy in fighting and punishing the terrorists. Andy McCarthy, who was a Manhattan criminal prosecutor of terrorists, has written in National Review Online that “we used the criminal justice system as our principal enforcement approach … for eight years — from the bombing of the World Trade Center until the shocking destruction of that complex on 9/11. During that timeframe, while the enemy was growing stronger and attacking more audaciously, we managed to prosecute successfully less than three dozen terrorists (29 to be precise). And with a handful of exceptions, they were the lowest ranking of players.”

Finally, moving these detainees into the U.S. criminal court system is unprecedented. The Constitution, the court system it has created, and the individual rights it protects, are specifically intended for the benefit of American citizens and/or legal residents. Detainees captured on a foreign battlefield are in neither category. In over 200 years of history, the U.S. has never once afforded foreign enemy combatants such benefits.

As a candidate for public office, I feel obligated to express my opposition to the possible transfer and trial of these Gitmo detainees into Virginia. If I am elected attorney general, I will explore any legal options we might have to resist this plan.

Cuccinelli is the Republican candidate for Virginia attorney general.