Responding to the news that a suspect in the Benghazi attacks had been captured, Sen. Marco Rubio called on the Obama administration to transfer him the Guantanamo Bay prison for interrogation.
Mr. Rubio said the capture of Ahmed Abu Khattala by U.S. Special Operations is “welcome news” and said that the suspect should be sent to the detention facility in Cuba for “detention and interrogation.”
“In order to locate all individuals associated with the attacks that led to the deaths of four Americans, we need intelligence,” the Florida Republican and likely 2016 presidential contender said. “That intelligence is often obtained through an interrogation process.”
President Obama campaigned in 2008 on the promise of shuttering the facility, but he has met resistance from Congress.
Last year, Mr. Obama renewed his pledged to close the prison, saying it has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law.
On Tuesday, Mr. Rubio, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the White House for being “more interested in the politics of the war on terrorism than the execution of it” and said “we have not had an articulable detention policy in six years.”
Mr. Rubio said he wants to know how the White House plans to get information from Khattala.
“America remains at war and a return to the failed law enforcement approach of the 1990s is not an adequate response to the very real threats we face,” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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