GOP Senator: ‘Too Many Empty Beds’ at Gitmo; They Should ‘Rot in Hell’ Instead

Newly-elected Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) made it clear on Thursday morning where he stands on the issue of whether to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay.

“Islamic terrorists don’t need an excuse to attack the United States,” the junior senator said at an Armed Services Committee hearing about the prison facility, noting numerous terrorist attacks against Americans that were carried out before the facility at Guantanamo Bay was created. “They don’t attack us for what they do; they attack us for who we are.”

Cotton said the drive to close the prison is simply a political one based on President Barack Obama‘s 2008 campaign promise. At the hearing, intelligence officials offered evidence of how the prison is used as “propaganda” in terrorist recruitment videos. Cotton dismissed those claims as a “pretext to justify a political decision.”

He continued:

“In my opinion, the only problem with Guantanamo Bay is there are too many empty beds and cells there right now. We should be sending more terrorists there for further interrogation to keep this country safe. As far as I’m concerned, every last one of them can rot in Hell. But as long as they don’t do that, then they can rot in Guantanamo Bay.”

Watch the video below, via C-SPAN:

[h/t Huffington Post]
[Image via screengrab]

— —

>>Follow Andrew Desiderio (@forza_desiderio) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!