VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT: Scott: Obama’s “Latest [Gitmo] Announcement, is ‘Overcooking my Grits’”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) today hosted a press conference responding to the White House’s refusal to rule out executive action to close Guantanamo Bay and transfer prisoners to the United States. The White House announced in August that it would survey facilities at the Naval Brig in Charleston, SC, Fort Leavenworth, KS, and two prisons in Colorado as potential sites to transfer the remaining detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

Click HERE to watch Senator Scott’s remarks.

Transcript of Senator Scott’s Remarks
Thank you, Senator Roberts, for your leadership on such an important issue to our country. Listen, I just returned from Guantanamo Bay about two weeks ago, and we have created the world’s best location for these enemy combatants – an isolated location surround by water, mountains, and deserts. It is hours away from Havana. Its isolation is part of its charm, so to speak. The President, in this latest announcement, is ‘overcooking my grits.’

I will tell you that here is no question in my mind that there is only one location on earth – one location on earth – where these enemy combatants should be, and that is Gitmo, for several reasons. Having been there, I will tell you that we have amazing men and women serving in uniform, making sure with great professionalism and character and integrity, that they guard some of the worst terrorists known to man.

You think about the fact that just this week, the House, with a veto-proof majority, Republicans and Democrats working together, said without any question, that the language in the NDAA must be the law of the land. This is approaching lawless behavior. To consider a location, a domestic location, is in my opinion, the worst decision for America’s national security. This is a settled issue. From polling in America to the votes in the House, the votes in the Senate, we are in one accord. Republicans and Democrats alike have consistently said that the only place – the only place- for these enemy combatants is not a domestic location. I would say it is Gitmo.

Senator Scott published an op-ed entitled, “Keep Guantanamo Open – the Arguments for Closing It Don’t Add Up.” Yesterday in theNational Reviewtelling the real story of what it’s like at the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay following his recent visit to review the dentation operations and meet with American troops serving at the facility.