Obama Drone Speech: GOP Senator Calls Speech "Victory" For Terrorists

Impact

Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), the vice chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, reacted to President Obama's Thursday speech on drone warfare and national security with the following statement: “The president’s speech today will be viewed by terrorists as a victory." Chambliss continued, “Today’s speech sends the message to Guantanamo detainees that if they harass the dedicated military personnel there enough, we will give in and send them home, even to Yemen.” And in what some would consider to be a pretty severe misunderstanding of causality, Chambliss’ response ended with, “With the recidivism rate now at 28% and the increased threat from Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, including in Yemen, Gitmo must stay open for business."

In a much more reasonable response, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he is “open to a proposal from the president regarding Guantanamo Bay, but that plan has to consist of more than talking points,” saying he needs to say what he “intends to do with those terrorist detainees who are too dangerous to release but cannot be tried; how he will ensure terrorists transferred overseas do not return to the fight; and what he will do with terrorists we will capture in the future as well as those dangerous terrorists still held in Afghanistan.”