Connolly: Gitmo talk a distraction

U.S. House Republicans taking a hard-line stance on the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees are creating a political smokescreen, Rep. Gerald E. "Gerry" Connolly said Friday.

Speaking on WTOP radio's "Politics Program" and on "NewsTalk" on NewsChan-nel 8, the Democrat, who represents much of eastern Prince William County, said GOP politicos are shifting the story away from what happened at the U.S. naval base.

The Obama administration plans to close the terror suspect detention facility in Cuba by January 2010. That means the 241 prisoners there have to go somewhere.

"As you know, the United States is in negotiations with some of its allies to accept some of those detain-ees," Connolly said on WTOP, "and I think some of the orchestrated comments in the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours on the other side of the aisle are frankly designed to maybe distract us from what went on at Guantanamo and from the fact that techniques that have been characterized as torture were allowed."

The freshman congressman apparently was responding to Republicans who voiced concern about potential terrorists entering U.S. communities.

Nine GOP House members -- including Minority Leader John Boehner and Connolly's Virginia colleagues Frank Wolf and Eric Cantor -- submitted legislation Thursday called the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act.

It would require approval from governors and state legislatures before a detainee could be transferred or released into a state.

It also establishes criteria and certification standards that must be met before any detainee is released into the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder testified at a Senate hearing Thursday that the administration has no plans to release terrorists.

But he said some detainees will be let go, apparently indicating the administration believes that some of the prison-ers are not terrorists.

Wolf, whose 10th District includes Manassas, Manassas Park and western Prince William, said detainees should be released to a foreign country, or at least transferred to a military installation in a rural setting.

Connolly, on the other hand, said he would not cast a vote that prohibited all detainees from coming to the continen-tal United States.

Some federal prisons, for example, could be appropriate places to hold suspects, said the lawmaker, who represents Virginia's 11th District.

"I think closing Guantanamo is the right decision," said Connolly, who serves on two House Foreign Affairs subcommittees that deal with terrorism and the Middle East.

Republican attempts to prevent the facility from being shuttered were defeated along party lines in the House Ap-propriations Committee on Thursday.

The panel, however, refused to give President Barack Obama the $50 million he requested to relocate prisoners, and it demanded a detailed plan from the White House by Oct. 1 on Guantanamo's future.

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738. The Associated Press contributed to this story.