Cantor to Kaine: Focus on state

Culpeper’s congressman, Republican Eric Cantor, has made it clear, repeatedly, that he does not want Guantanamo Bay detainees relocated to Virginia prisons when the military detention camp in Cuba closes next year.

But the minority whip in the U.S. House is saying it again. And this time, he’s taking issue with Tim Kaine, calling the governor’s response “insufficient” to the possibility of Gitmo prisoners coming to the commonwealth.

Cantor, a Richmond Republican, also said in a release this week that Kaine needs to focus more on his state and not the national political party he heads.

“The citizens of Virginia look to their governor to keep them safe,” Cantor said. “Gov. Kaine’s refusal to even investigate the consequence of bringing terrorist detainees to Virginia is an abdication of his responsibility to the families of the commonwealth. Tim Kaine should focus on being the governor of Virginia first, before his role as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.”

Last month, Cantor had asked Kaine and other Virginia congressmen “to work together to prevent the transfer of known terrorists into Virginia.”

Cantor said he appreciated Kaine’s reply, but felt the governor’s take on the matter failed to adequately protect Virginians.

In a letter May 21, Kaine said he supported Obama’s decision to close Gitmo “in a timely fashion,” adding that he had faith in the president and his advisers “to determine the appropriate conditions and circumstances to carry out the plan.”

Obama “has already made our nation both safer and stronger” in his few months as president, Kaine said, “by rejecting torture and other tactics that violate basic human rights as part of our country’s security policy.”

A 224-page FBI report made public in 2007 included numerous accounts from Guantanamo Bay personnel of detainees being subjected to extreme heat, cold and isolation as part of interrogations, as well as sleep depravation, extended periods of loud music, strobe lights, or lack of food and water, among other named observations.

“Moving forward,” Kaine continued in his letter to Cantor, “we must continue to make decisions — however complicated or difficult they may be — that improve the security of the United States and remain true to our American values.”

Kaine’s press secretary, Gordon Hickey, reiterated the governor’s stance on the Gitmo detainee matter in a phone call to the Star-Exponent Thursday.

“It is kind of pointless to get into a back and forth (with Cantor) over what is essentially speculation,” Hickey said. “The governor supports the president’s decision to close Guantanamo Bay in a timely fashion.”

He added that Kaine has every confidence in the armed force’s ability to keep the people of Virginia safe.

Obama’s order
Under the Bush administration and since 9/11, about 800 individuals determined by the Department of Defense to be “enemy combatants” have been detained at Guantanamo, according to Obama’s Jan. 22 order to close the prison within a year.

Of those, more than 500 have since been removed from the facility “either by returning them to their home country or releasing or transferring them to a third country.”

Closing Gitmo was one of Obama’s first official duties as president, undertaken due to “significant concerns” raised by the extended detentions — more than six years for some. Also, the closure “would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice.”

Though the Obama administration has not announced specific plans for relocation or release of remaining detainees, the president’s order notes, “To the extent practicable, the prompt and appropriate disposition of the individuals detained at Guantanamo should precede” its closure.

Included as part of Obama’s order to close the military prison in Cuba is a section calling for the review of “legal, logistical, and security issues” related to “the potential transfer of individuals currently detained at Guantanamo to facilities within the United States.” Specific facilities are not named.

Cantor, in voicing his opposition to detainees being transferred to Virginia, referred to a 2007 report from the House Armed Services Committee that listed the Marine Corps Base at Quantico and the Naval Station Brig in Norfolk as potential sites.