Ensign doesn’t want prisoners transferred from Guantanamo Bay

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., says he's against transferring prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the United States for trial. Here's his statement in full:

Washington, DC - Senator John Ensign today voted against the FY10 Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Report due in part to a provision in the bill that could allow terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay to be transferred to the U.S. for trial.

"Our past experiments have proven that trying terrorists in U.S. civilian courts have degraded our national security. Trial and prosecution of the first World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya tipped terrorists off about our ability to monitor their communications and inadvertently provided Osama Bin Laden with sensitive intelligence,” Ensign said.

“This is especially perplexing considering the state of the art judicial facility at Guantanamo Bay. This facility has the unique ability to conduct proceedings in a manner that safeguards sensitive intelligence, is secure from terrorist threats, and has a viewing area for the 9/11 families. This is precisely where the terrorists currently at Guantanamo should be tried."