In July of 2006, I visited the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It was important for me to see Guantanamo firsthand and to meet the military personnel who are doing such a great job for our country.
It's true that I have not been able to completely close Guantanamo, but we've drastically reduced the population from 700 or so to around 60 now.
Until the administration can articulate a coherent and convincing policy for closing Guantanamo, it should remain open.
I've been in the group that believes it's in our national interest to close Guantanamo. It does create a psychological scar on our national values. Whether it should or not, it does.
I think Guantanamo, has been synonymous with the staining of American values and American legal tradition.
Many of the vicious criminals held there have been caught on the battlefield fighting against American troops and shutting down Guantanamo Bay would just require the military to move them elsewhere.
No one has ever escaped from Guantanamo Bay. It is by far the most secure detention facility in the world.
GTMO has been a goldmine of intelligence about radical Islamic terrorism.
President Obama has been very clear as he laid out the goal, and the objective is to close Guantanamo.
I have traveled to GTMO and have seen the honorable and professional behavior of the American men and women in uniform who serve at the detention facility.
Created specifically to house the world's most dangerous terrorists, the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay is designed to keep both American personnel and the detainees safe and secure.
In addition to being a terrorist recruiting tool, Guantanamo is a huge drain on taxpayer dollars.
Closing Guantanamo Bay is not a military solution. The closing of that prison, which I support, I supported it when I was in the Senate, requires more than just a military dimension.
American soldiers had to guard prisoners on the inside while receiving mortar and weapons fire from the outside. Guantanamo is distant from any battlefield, making it far more secure.
What does Obama mean keep working on closing Gitmo? It's a broken promise. Obama said we were gonna close Gitmo the first day he was in office and it never happened.
Sources say the Obama administration is in the 'final stages' of planning the closing of Guantanamo Bay. The way it's gonna work is, they're going to put a Radio Shack sign out front and let nature take its course.
I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm gonna make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world.
I was standing on a ladder outside the Homestead juvenile immigrant detention center outside Miami, looking over the fence, and I saw children lined up like prisoners. They had been separated from their families and put in this private detention facility. It was horrible.
NBC's The West Wing is an icon for bad stories; Gitmo is a place where we keep an eye on evil, dangerous people who want to kill us.
I believe that we need to set conditions to close the detention facility at Guantanamo. This includes retaining the option to transfer detainees from this facility elsewhere... It is in the U.S.'s national security interest to do so.
Remember when Obama was campaigning? Didn't he say he was going to close Guantanamo Bay? Didn't he say that? Apparently, he just meant for renovations.
The overwhelming majority of Coloradans don't want Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United States or Colorado.
In a way, a jail is a place where you can rest, read books and live with yourself.
Guantanamo Bay is a first-rate detention facility that's kept terrorists off the battlefield and kept America safe. It's critical role in our national security cannot be overstated.
At its height, Guantanamo's population of alleged combatants swelled to nearly 800.
