, we have a wonderful cooperation going on. , because ofone year the assistance provided by the united states of america, we have added 14 megawatts of energy. the assistance that we are getting, we are getting support from the united states of america on some of the mega energy projects we have initiated. these developments have also enhanced the american ranking in the eyes of the pakistani public. the assistance we are getting on economic development and these areas is seen very positively.

has been an important sector of our cooperation. education was one of the key items when our prime minister ame to washington, d.c. the joint statement issued at that meeting referred cooperation as one of the most important areas of cooperation between the two countries. defense is also strong. so is intelligent cooperation. ,his is an important area because the kind of challenges onlye faced with are not regionally, but related to daesh and other elements on the scene

that require global cooperation between the united states and pakistan. havee nuclear issue we developed convergence eas on mot issues. havee regional level we established peace and stability in south asia. east, it would enhance our domestic security, besides economic development. pakistan is located at the crossroads of three important regions, south asia, central asia, and the middle east. foran act as a bridge prosperity and development in this region. regionalrsuing several interconnectivity projects in our region, including

china-pakistan economic corridor -- the work on which has already started. with an ambitious project an investment of $46 billion. turkmenistan,ing pakistan, and india gas pipeline. and electricity connectivity project from the central asian republics crossing pakistan. at the global level we have an excellent cooperation on some of the most important issues -- including climate change, terrorism, and drug issues. i would like to say that you may 1970'sthat in the early

pakistan played a pivotal role in building bridges between the u.s. and china. we brought about an approach ment between these two powers. we did this on the belief that a positive relationship between the united states of america would contribute to peace and stability and bring about peace and stability in the region. ,e would like to continue that not only in our region, but also in the middle east. we enjoy a close relationship ,ith middle eastern countries and being a good friend of the united states of america and also neighboring countries, including iran, we could play that kind of role. , i willrity challenges

two of ourelf to neighbors. relations,tan unfortunately, the history has not been a glorious one. we have had wars, tensions, and continued attempts to undermine each other. pakistan-india relations since 1947. there is also the realization that war is not an option between 2 nuclear neighbors. the previous wars that we fought was literally fought with bows and arrows.

it is the realization amongst the people of the two countries, , that economic development cannot take place in the region, in pakistan and india, without a peaceful environment. this is a realization that the forces of extremism and terrorism thrive in environment of tension and hostility. always exploit the rivalry between two countries and further exacerbate the situation. , i am this realization happy to inform, that in pakistan almost all political parties -- if you look at the

elections that have taken place in pakistan, there were three successive elections in the past two decades or so -- the political parties, in their manifesto, have clearly with india,peace afghanistan, and the region. is being mirrored by almost all of the political parties. party,me minister, his he won the election on his slogan "peace through economic development." or "economic development through peace." -- many in pakistan supported that in the region. the prime minister of pakistan

was the first leader in south that was elected as the prime minister in india. went tonister bodie india. i will turn the last two years wewasted years, because cannot resume the dialogue manyss despite disagreements between the leadership of the two countries. but we didpointed, not continue to make efforts to engage india. meetingst week's ofween the prime minister

pakistan and prime minister modi at the climate summit in paris, the leaders agreed that the national security advisers should meet. they met in bangkok. today, the indian foreign is visiting pakistan. for the conference and hearing her meeting -- conference interior meeting that is to show solidarity, which is hosted in pakistan. willink these interactions reduce tension. thesely hope is that

initial interactions that are taking place is the revival of a serious, sustained, uninterrupted dialogue between our two countries. we share 2700 kilometers along of afghanistan. you would be surprised to learn that every day 60,000 to 70,000 undertake visits to pakistan to earn their livelihoods. sometimes they stay in pakistan

and go back after two days. we are hosting 3 million in pakistan for the last almost 35 years. to bring piece and stability to afghanistan. because we are doing this becaus no other country besides afghanistan has suffered as much is pakistan due to the we had carried out in the border areas which had

become a safe haven for many of the dreaded terrorist organizations and operations initiated in june last year. again, it is a matter of announcing that we have been able to clear these enemies across every shade of color. this was operations in the sense that it is a case study in the sense that we developed. we regulated millions.

we do this not only to bring piece and stability unfortunately some of these elements have crossed over from afghanistan and now are not only in afghanistan. there are two parts. one is a military victory over the insurgents, and the 2nd is the negotiated piece through a process of national desegregation. over the last 14 years the military solution has remained elusive.

we have shed a lot of bad blood in order to bring about the piece and stability, but that has not come about. it is unlikely that we would be able to achieve that peace through military means. accordingly, what we have suggested is that we should try and bring about piece their negotiations in afghanistan or through the process of national reconciliation. we have in our interaction with the afghan leadership suggested to them that pakistan would be willing to play a role for not only the revival of the interrupted reconciliation process between afghan taliban but also be able to bring about

-- will be able to take other steps. .. every year we offer 6000 scholarships for our students to study in institutions in pakistan. these scholarships that we offer, in addition to the education facility that is

provided to the children residing in pakistan -- tomorrow the president will visit because of the shared contract that is organized in pakistan. the prime minister of pakistan and the president will jointly and address the meeting. will jointly inaugurate and address the meeting. lastly ladies and gentlemen, education is certainly one of the primary of our focus by the current government. other region documents were approved by the cabinet last year, in that substantial expansion involvement of all children and improvement of the quality of education.

the government is committed to increase the budget and allocation from the current two per% of the gdp by 24% of the gdp. similarly we have also increased public expenditure on higher education from the current 0.2% of gdp to 1.4% of the gdp. recently, in 2012 the government passed the right to a free education making all 5216-year-old children to free education. under the prime minister of education initiative launched recently a comprehensive has been initiated for upgrading

school structure. human resources development, teacher training, curriculum improvement, and other reforms. similarly the providential governments have had improvements with primary education and it improvement with adult literacy, especially for women. they have begun their own movement for all girls in pakistan, we are witnessing increased enrollment by young girls even from the north areas of pakistan, including the tribal areas who are coming forward to get education. i was surprised to learn recently when i went to pakistan that in the medical institutions in pakistan the girl students outnumbered the boys. this is a recent trend.

in our banking industry is something that was very positive from our point of view that most of the banks are employing more women than men. there is a lot of competition going on because a lot of these students, the girl students are getting good professional degree in order to join the banking sector. similarly, some of the educational themes like engineering, etc., scientists which scientists which would be exclusive to men, again we see 30 or 40% of women going to those institutions. between u.s. and pakistan, as i mentioned we have a fulbright scholarship. every year, 200 young boys and

girls they come to the united states of america to undertake studies here. all of these boys and girls are selected are from areas of pakistan including the tribal areas, they are doing extremely well. we see these young students who come here for education and then go back to country to help the development of the country as a very important trade between the pakistan and united states of america. we are not working on the development of pakistan u.s. knowledge mcwhorter door, as as part of this corridor we will establish linkages and it would also involve exchange of

students from both countries and exchange of academics from both countries. so ladies and gentlemen, think i have certainly crossed my time limit. i will stop here. i will be very happy to respond to any question that you have. thank you. [applause]. >> so i will start off with a couple of questions and will open it up to audience q&a. thank you for a great speech. since you ended on the topic of education i thought we would start with a question that on education. you mention successes in the focus on education. over the years we have seen a lot of improvements in access to education and enrollment increases certainly is a task

that is continuing. if you could comment more on curricular reform and improvements in learning and quality of education. just because donors like the u.s. and other donors across the world tend to focus a lot on these quantity of education. but if we could learn more about what has been made to improve quality of education that would be good. >> will couple of them ported indicators. for for instance, i'm sure you have come from pakistan, i suppose you also came from the same education system that i came from, my children came from and many of the other pakistani students came from the same education system. my attraction with the universities, might interaction with the students, many of the

students that come to the united states have the early education system they doing extremely well. they compete with and that basically is a reflection on the good-quality of education that i was talking about. certainly, there are areas which need improvement. in order to defeat soviet union you know that a lot of this came up so work the government is trying to do now is to introduce a form a committee to look into curriculum. to bring it to par with the

current. so if there any distortions in the education system it could be removed. and they said, more and more of the girl students have increased. more more women are getting education and professional institutions. so what is very hopeful that the future looks very bright for these young pakistani boys and girls. i have also seen that most of these pakistani students both boys and girls, who come to the united states of america when they go to other countries or australia, that i'll go back to pakistan to help with economic development. >> if i could ask one more

question on education and then we'll move on. terms of education pakistan also has a public education system and a private education system. a very elite private education system. some of the people we see who do really well in the u.s. are products of that elite private education system. are there efforts to bring that public education system to par with the more elite private education system? or to to improve the quality so that people can compete in a global environment for public education system? >> will again i would say that it is certainly the effort is being made. in order to bridge the gap between private education and

the public school. i am a product of the public school. there's no doubt about it there are many people like me who are also products of public schools. public schools, i remember they provide a very good quality education. over the years, i agree with with you that private schools have become sort of you leads. the quality of some of the education is not as good as the per private schools. efforts are are being made to address this issue. the school building the public schools, by providing good facilities in the schools to

provide better training to the teachers teaching in public schools. the the idea is to develop the infrastructure that would make the public schools equally effective for young student. >> so moving to security issues you mention some of the successes of the military campaign. so we can sit with the numbers, terrorist attacks have gone down fatalities have gone down. we can also get a sense of it when visiting pakistan. i've been there twice this year and is quite palpable that the security situation has improved. it's a two-part question. how has it impacted bilateral it relations with the u.s.? and what is being done in terms of the longer-term national action plan, in terms of a

counter initiative to terrorist. so while it has been defeated militarily will not arrive again in the future. >> i remember that a couple of years ago when we had interaction that we had with the u.s. situation in pakistan that it was a concern, all the activities of the terrorist organizations. i think during my talk i mention about the development of this national consensus in the country against these forces. so with the national consensus it should apply to all groups. i think that has helped in developing a much better understanding between us and the united states of america. here

here i would also like to mention that when i talk about military operations, we certainly oh gratitude to the u.s. administration, members of congress, and many other institutions for the kind of support that was received from the united states of america. we have decisions to help with the militia, we we got the helicopters, we also got the f-16s which was certainly a game changer. we're talking about an area which is the most treacherous of the areas. without the kind of the sophisticated military equipment that we use in order to clean up

the area we could not the objectives. >> thank you for those great answers. will will now move to an audience q&a. please line up over there and it will do first come first serve. if you could keep your questions brief and to the points. also, have it be one question instead of a set of questions. and ask a question at the good. so no statements by themselves. >> hi, every dollar spent on military is a dollar not spent on meeting pakistan's dire social needs in particular education. what is the motivation between doubling pakistan's military budget? >> i don't think the military budget has been doubled. >> i thought you said something about going from 2% to 4%. >> know that's for education.

>> totally different story. >> we went from 2% of the gdp for the last many years was insufficient to promote education and to provide quality education to the areas of pakistan. so the government has decided to increase and double the allocation for education from 2% to 4% by 2018. >> that's good news what is happening as far as the military budget is concerned? >> at the moment you can make it better that we have a very serious situation to a dress in our eastern and western border.

it requires some kind of military expenditure. you can compare the situation for instance, other military defense budget is less than what was introduced in the budget last year. so there are challenges that we face. >> thank you for coming to speak with us. my question is towards education and specifically the technical and vocational training and more specifically efforts to integrate the tribal region into the local economy and education. >> again, and is extremely important that as we have clear

pakistan from these enforces it is important for us to build infrastructure and provide quality education to the children of the tribal areas. many suggestions that came from members of congress to establish reconstruction opportunities in the areas of pakistan. unfortunately that proposal did not move forward because of certain reasons. we see given the kind of challenges that we face in the kind of resource constraint it would required collective effort on the part of all of us who created that institution in the 70s. we are getting a lot of

assistance from the united states of america. but the one thing that we need is three or 4,000,000,000 dollars in order to build the type of infrastructure that we need. the support we are getting from other sources is very small. i think this is an area that is a lot of understanding of this problem that we face. hopefully, as we have more dialogue i think that will bring a lot of prosperity to the people of the tribal areas. >> thank you both for coming and talking to us today.

you touched upon the importance of economic development to peace in the region. you talked about how pakistan is the kitchen and countries in the region and with the u.s. to expand its economic development. could you touch on the domestic policies that pakistan is pursuing to reduce corruption in pakistan and otherwise make pakistan a better environment for new and growing businesses? >> i think this is an important issue because corruption as mentioned are an issue that is going on. again i would like to mention that democracy has done a lot of good to pakistan. people of pakistan when they see a particular government has not done very well in terms of

governments or has not been able to arrest corruption. this is a phenomenon. it is something we are witnessing today. i meant about the ruthless nature of the media, almost everything from the members of parliament, or any other institution that comes under scrutiny. education is an issue. i would briefly mention that these developments have also done a lot of good for us because in pakistan the situation has endured significantly. it is been two years, if you look at the force that has been

released by the instant national institutions, the reading with pakistan grew significantly. it is because the steps the government has taken to ensure good government. the steps taken by the government to address corruption, and also because of the economic reforms including the taxation reforms that have been introduced in the country. >> thank you. >> thank you for coming to talking to us today. i'm a student at george washington university. i learn more about u.s. pakistan relations tonight that i have in my entire life. thank you. you mentioned briefly how pakistan in the past has helped

with the good relations with china and the u.s. with fostering chinese and american ties. if you had to make a personal prediction, how do you expect that pakistan could help strengthen u.s. iranian ties in the future? >> very interesting question. for the information of all those in the audience who do not know, i want to look after the interest in the country. ever since the relations with the united states of america and iran were severed this response is ability was given to pakistan as the government looks after the u.s. interest in iran.

we are doing this because we enjoy very good relationship with both united states of america and iran. we share about 1000 kilometers of border with iran and we feel the problems with iran and the d5 plus countries are a successful outcome of nuclear issues. i think that is a very good move in the region because they could not afford any more attention. it was a very too much tension over the last few years. the future looks very bright. as far as the connectivity projects are concerned or

increased cooperation between iran and the united states of america is concerned, i see that we can see that the ice is melting. we hope the agreement that has been successfully negotiated with the d5 plus countries and iran and after the implementation the sanctions are going to be lifted and the lifting of the sanctions is something that could also open up opportunities, not only for countries in the region but others. >> i believe you mentioned also an i will

affect pakistani and indian relations given india and china have not had the most friendly relations in the past? >> the lesson we have learned from the history is economic development in one country also benefits the other countries. the economic corridor that is developed between china and pakistan, the economic corridor from western part of china linking it with pakistan. so this would also involve construction or establishment of

industrial zones on the economic corridor. so you you can imagine the kind of prosperity that is in the region not only between china and pakistan because of a lot of investment, not every country has the opportunity. for instance, we are also engaged with the united states of america that they can also invest in some of the products which would be undertaken. so i think the economic corridor will certainly going to become a factor of economics, great economic productivity. >> so we have about five minutes left. what i suggest is a couple of you ask your questions and then

they will go to the ambassador and then the last two people if we have time. >> thank you for and very interesting talk. i will work on education so i will throw some numbers that you in terms of education development in pakistan. so in the past five or six years pakistan has received more than $2 billion. in education investments in public education. as far as results are concerned, we do not see those kind of numbers coming from the country, particularly pakistan is still one of the five countries in the world with the most out of school age children. so what is so different in the government strategy today that you think these numbers will change when $2 billion cannot make a difference? >> so you talk about $2 billion for a country without pop

relation of 200 million. so you're talking about a country where 60%. today, i wish that i had the figures for two years the enrollment has increased. for both boys and girls. as i mentioned that we have introduced the education. also, we have provided incentives to the children in the rural areas where because of the economic reasons they would not send their children to schools but now, as part of the initiative you are talking about providing children to more children. in order to basically get them in schools. that is one thing.

then the number of schools which are being established, which are being upgraded and the number of universities, it's a huge resource the 2,000,000,000 you are talking about is really, really not sufficient but we are talking about is we need to invest necessary resources. it is effective, i have absolutely frank and candid and i must confess that it is effective which was needed in the past. luckily it requires more. >> thank you paul so much for speaking this evening and sharing some interesting thoughts. his question, i'm curious to know if you could share the outreach efforts have undertaken

in washington and the united states is the top pakistani diplomat in america do in your. what have you done, what are you currently doing and what would you like to achieve in the future? >> my job as investor pakistan is not only to promote the interests of my own country and this great country but also to build strong relationship with other countries. i can only build that strong relationship stronger but regular direction with the members of the administration. i'm very fortunate and lucky that i have a very good relationship with almost every instant tuition within the united states of america. the state department, the

department of defense, the intelligence community, commerce or u.s. dr. education, economic cooperation trade development is another area of my responsibility. i have reason to be satisfied that in the last two years or so that i've been here, we have organized a number of conferences for the united states of america and in pakistan, attended by very prominent businessmen from both countries. i spent a lot of time on congress, i spend at least two or three days in a week interacting with members of the

congress. also with the senior staffers. because they also play an important role. i have reason to be satisfied that we see a development emerging. think tanks are another area, another important community and pakistan, very wide and community. so again, the media is another area that i have to focus. >> thank you. >> to we have time to take a couple more? okay, we'll take one more. >> thank you for your comments tonight. tony spoke earlier about the importance of words and branding

that is a very important issue in respect to terrorism. in the past, we have seen often hateful rhetoric emanating from media and political figures with respect to that issue. would it not be helpful to us, around the world if we were to describe the failure of isis by virtue of the fact that millions of people, hundreds of thousands of people, are fleeing their so-called paradise. >> again a very important issue but a very serious phenomenon we're talking about. this has developed again because and what is the media is to develop a collective strategy and collective efforts in order

to defeat the forces like isis that you're talking about. the discussion talked about developing a counter which is really important. you have to have a message in every country and that i talk about every country because this forces or support for isis is not confined to one country. we're talking about a pocket all over the world. we need to develop which is more convincing than what is being

put on by isis. as i said, we also need to educate our people. for instance in pakistan we have embarked upon a campaign. you must have seen the support by washington post yesterday that isis will not be able to make inroads in pakistan because of -- in the country. we need to to create the same thing in every country. when our parliament member the parliament we are discussing the kind of ruthless behavior in the on islamic behavior of isis. in the mosques, the religious are also talking about this phenomenon. with that, i think we need to educate the misguided people.

>> shall we do one more question? yes. >> yes, thank you very much to be here. you already made a beautiful picture of pakistan. despite the successful military operation the best example is in the central where they're still challenging and calling for the omission of the islamic state. they're more than thousands of students armed in that area. what are you doing there. secondly nothing is being done

against the -- in pakistan. >> it to be very honest i would not agree with that assessment for the simple reason that while we launched operations in north, which was a huge success simultaneously we launch operations against various other extremist organizations throughout the country. they were intelligence based operations in their producing results. i'm sure you're familiar with another organization which was responsible for other issues. several other organizations and extremists have been taken out. it's a ongoing and a phenomenon that was mentioned if you look at the figures of the last

several years, there has been a reduction in terrorism and pakistan. according to some of the dependent organizations, this reduction is almost 60 or 70%. these are ongoing efforts, obviously you can't have a modular want to bring an end to the phenomenon but the good thing is in pakistan we have been able to contain it. the government is taking action and i am sure you will get some very positive information to come. >> if i may add a quick follow. you mentioned the trade is there a sense that --

>> we have adopted a policy where we would take action against every extremist organization irrespective of its shade and color. >> thank you so much. [applause]. ladies and gentlemen, before we go back to get something to eat and drink and i hope you'll stay and join in the after discussion conversation, it is my pleasure tonight to have the honor of presenting something. every ambassador who speaks at our investor series we honor with an award. it is my pleasure tonight to honor and his excellency,

ambassador of the republic of pakistan to the united states. for his outstanding diplomatic leadership support of global education and international affairs. i i hope you will join me in congratulating the ambassador. [applause]. >> reporter: this is not given, it is earned. and believe me it he has earned it. >> thank you so much. [applause]. >> c-span takes you on the road

to the white house. camp in the classroom. this year, our student camp documentary contest asks students to tell us what they would hear from the candidates. follow c-span road to the white house coverage and get the details about our student contest at c-span.org. >> at the heritage foundation republican senator tom talks close theplan to guantanamo bay detention facility, and the implications for national security. 170 detainees are being held at the basic cuba. the senators remarks are one half of an hour.

>> good afternoon, welcome to the heritage foundation. we welcome those who join us on our website on all of these occasions. of our wonderful friends and house to make that last courtesy check that your cell phones have been muted. it is always appreciated by those recording the event, and those giving the remarks. we will post the program on the homepage for future reference. our internet viewers are welcome anytime to send questions or comments to our e-mail speaker at heritage.org. hosting our desk today is calling stimpson who serves as legal manager of the national security law program. he specializes in national security legal issues, homeland security, crime control and drug policy. prior to joining the program in

2007 he served as deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs under both secretaries rumsfeld and gates. local, state,as a federal and military prosecutor. military defense counsel and recently as the trial judge for the navy marine corps trial judiciary. he's the commanding officer of the navy reserve appellate review activity government division. please join me in welcoming collie stimpson. welcome. [applause] >> thank you very much. welcome to the heritage foundation. as always, we are delighted to have you. our distinguished guest as you know is a u.s. senator and he tells from the great state of arkansas. as committees include the banking committee, the intelligence committee, the armed services committee and the

power subcommittee. he grew up on his family's , he graduated from darnell high school and harvard law school. practicelerkship and -- private she served nearly five years on active duty in the united states army as an infantry officer. he served in iraq and afghanistan with a provincial reconstruction team. he served with the old guard at the arlington national cemetery. as a military decorations include the bronze star medal, combat infantry -- for mckenzie company and served for the united states of representatives and has a seventh month old newborn named gabrielle.

i am particularly drawn to a series of lectures that the onator has written, all national security, including foreign affairs on proxy wars. , heave a wonderful speech wrote a piece called "what i learned at war." and my favorite is the barbara k memorial lecture at the national lawyers convention. 2006 and 2007 when i had the pleasure of serving in the 400 administration, we had something detainees at -- today we have none in iraq and afghanistan and differentfrom seven countries. as a recall, president bush said

he wanted to group the day when he closes guantanamo. i was left to task on how to close guantanamo bay. without getting into the details, it requires for things to be done simultaneously. legal, logistical, diplomatic issues. as you know, the president promised to close want from obey in its first year. the democrats were in control of the house and senate at the time. 2009 was the year politically when the table was set for the president to spend political capital to do that. he failed to do that. -- the 1998 east africa embassy bomber to the federal court in new york for trial in a series

of other evens soured the mood on capitol hill. it was during 2009 and every year since that the democrats that controlled congress and the republicans controlled congress in the house, passed a series of restrictions barring the president from bringing detainees the united states. which was inevitably a part of his so-called closure program. we are pleased to have senator cotton here to discuss the play today. back when the president was elected, isis was never they are today. now, the breadth of isis and transnational terrorism, senator cotton has prepared a thought-provoking series of opinion,n why his closing guantanamo bay today makes little sense. [applause] thank you for the

kind introduction and warm welcome. month marks the anniversary to close want from obey. he chose this initiative out of all of the issues he faced, the subject of his very first executive order. the first of very many executive orders. he states the signing of it in grand fashion in the oval office . he has spoken several times about the dire need to close guantanamo bay in one year's time. seven years later, president obama has failed to make good on that battle. while, still operating in this is large part because the president's empty rhetoric that closing guantanamo bay is not benefit the american people. at the same time, keeping

terrorists off of the battlefield and away from u.s. shores has proved enduring more pressing during this time of safe havens in the middle east and north africa. we do not maintain guantanamo bay because we want to. we maintain it as it is in the best interest of our national security to do so. bay is way, guantanamo not to be separated from historical practice, as many as his critics say. it is a humane and professional wartime military prison. unpleasant, but inescapable necessity of any conflict. well grounded in the loss of war. created anday was set for closure once hostilities end. unfortunately, they have not ended, they have intensified. we remain engaged in a long war against radical, islamists, jihadist.

it is not a war we started, but it is a war we must be committed to winning. this war has no frontline and no specific theaters traditionally understood. i weapons of our opponents is not only conventional, but also ideological. the islamic state and al qaeda hughes modern social media and cryptic communication apps to radicalize people across the globe, including fellow americans. we saw the bitter fruits of this tactic in paris and days ago in california. this is why we need a contention facility like guantanamo bay. it is a dedicated facility in a remote location we can house detainees in a global context -- conflict. it is secure from attack and infiltration. it allows us to concentrate trained experts in one place to extract intelligence of paramount importance in uncovering and stopping plots

against americans. it can be, and has been, -- repeatedly visited by the international red cross and other human rights groups observation, open, regular transparent manner. us tonamo bay enables isolate detainees who otherwise seek to spread the radical ideology beyond the prison walls. president obama and others have detaineesbringing united states and house them in super max prisons. the ugly truth that president obama does not share, is that bringing these terrorists to facilities in the u.s. will have enormous costs in terms of tax dollars and compromise u.s. security. the construction of new facilities and upgrades to existing facilities will require close to $1 billion. the prospect of co-mingling terrorists with normal prison populations raises a serious

risk that hardened criminals will also be radicalized. if released from prison, they may commit attacks on the homeland. if not released, they will be able to communicate their ideology to others. if you facilities are not to be constructed, we face the problem that super max prisons are at full capacity. in order to accept guantanamo detainees, other highly dangerous criminals will have to be transferred from super max facilities to lower security prisons. moving guantanamo detainees the united states will create the federal prison population more dangerous, or jihadists, and more costly to keep locked up. we will also be creating, the terrorists abroad, many guantanamos back and become targets for attacks and jailbreaking. as general john kelly testified this year to congress. this makes one wonder, if the

terrorists great -- threats have grown, why can't we take the course of keeping bad guys where they belong and sending more terrorists to guantanamo. the president has done the opposite and marked on ideology -- while still searching for an answer to closing the facility permanently. his temporary solution has been to empty it by releasing the captives back to the battlefield and establishing random, arbitrary goals to the facility. to examine the shortsighted policy in more depth. at times, u.s. leaders have been -- premature and narrow victory from a pre-9/11 fatality. president obama has in large part succumbed to this notation. the campaign for reelection on it. he insisted that al qaeda was on the road to defeat and the tide

of war was receding, and we should begin to nation build at home. the president's commitment to this desperate fantasy, even in the face is the islamic state rises and the spread of al qaeda affiliates, has left him to discount the danger of releasing guantanamo detainees to join the fight again. unfortunately, those dangers are two real. relation, as. former taliban commander who claimed to have been a simple bread deliveryman. he reestablished himself as a warlord in southern afghanistan. one who pledges allegiance to the islamic state and let a group of insurgent fighters. earlier this year, u.s. forces have to face up again. thankfully, they killed him, but only of risks to themselves. other dangers, a guantanamo bay

detainee who is recently transferred to the united kingdom. this was done without the conference of then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, martin dempsey. why did you know dempsey disagree with the transfer? i have asked the pentagon and i'm still waiting for an answer. it is no secret that he was a dangerous terrorist before he was captured. he was a noncompliant detainee while i guantanamo bay, it will likely continue to cause trouble is freed. i have traveled to the u.k. recently. british intelligence and law enforcement officials told me that they are stressed to the breaking point, trying to handle british fighters returning from syrian and iraqi battlefields. on top of that, humans burden brought obama has added a thoseess terrorists -- cases are merely to amidst many.

653 detainees have been released from guantanamo bay. each has gone through stringent measures designed to evaluate their dangerousness for release and to arrange for appropriate detention and monitoring after their release. measures, 196hese are confirmed or suspected of having returned to the battlefield. a 30% rate. the 30% figure is made even more when measured against the confirmed rate of guantanamo detainees who have not been released. which is of course, zero. 170 detainees remain at guantanamo bay today. many, if not all, are the worst of the worst. detainee so dangerous, that their home countries will not accept them. , we arelease them all looking at possibly 32 more terrorists who are able to plot,

organize, recruit, and execute terrorist operations against united states. of course, since these are the worst of the worst, we have a reason to expect a much higher rate. -- privilegejured of serving the people of my state and to keep them safe. of servingthe honor in iraq and afghanistan were my fellow soldiers and i faced terrorist bailey. given a choice between one policy that would put at least 32 more terrorists in a position to threaten us and our troops on the battlefield. under the policy that completely eliminates the possibility, that is an easy choice for me. it should be for any policymaker. proponents of closing guantanamo are for many arguments. a central claim is that the facility is used as a recruiting

tool by terrorists. the claim may make some intuitive sense. but it's foundation is flimsy. researchers who have looked at the claim show it to be one thing. the number of times guantanamo bay is mentioned and al qaeda and affiliated propaganda pales iraq,parison to afghanistan, usb strikes, and the dispute between pakistan and india over kashmir. -- particularly in the materials of new terrorist groups like the islamic state. and to the extent that guantanamo is mentioned, it is usually only one that makes a laundry list of proposed benefits against the muslim world. this is not surprising. the motivations of radical

islamic jihad is on is much larger than the specific issues and grievances. the ideology is missed on a narrative of conquest and spiritual, as well as earthly world. they attacked us not for what they believe we have done to them, or to muslims around the world. we aretacked us because a civilization that stands and you way of realization of a new global views. does the president or anyone seriously believe that the closure of guantanamo bay would prevent terrorists from this arm or undermined their recruitment efforts? with the islamic state stopped its bloody march against the middle east and north africa if detainees are housed in various locations? the notion is quite simply, absurd. terrorists attack us before they facility,uantanamo and they will try to attack us

regardless of its closure. the presence of u.s. military bases and muslim nations. if not those bases, it will be the loss of jerusalem. if not jerusalem, the grievance jihadistthe loss -- and cannot be placated, unless we are prepared to give up the whole of western civilization. once we begin to pull the string towards a radical ideology conquest, we will find that it never stops. recruitment argument, critics also like to describe guantanamo bay is a law free zone the government does not abide by the scriptures of an applicable u.s. and international law and the conditions are horrible. in septemberes," blessed the facility as a legal limbo that festers on the edge thehe gossip division -- on edge of the contsiution.

this is not true, and it has never been true. since the first detainees were housed at guantanamo bay, the united states has required a review of detainees by military tribunals. congress has established rules for missions crafted on the guidelines enunciated by the supreme court. entitled to the constitutional writ of habeas corpus. armies of the best lawyers of the united states provide free and zealous representation to the detainees before u.s. courts , often all the way to the supreme court. to number of lawyers devoted detention cases far exceeds the number of detainees. this cannot be said for the american prison population. guantanamo bay is far from a law free zone. at no time, in any war in all of history, let alone u.s. history,

have military detainees enjoyed such a procedural right. and at no time, have they never received such a heightened level of care. abouthed announcements the conditions of guantanamo -- treat them in a humane fashion. efforts that go far beyond the standards of international law. the international red cross has made 111 regular visits at the facilities that it opened. since it opened. 100 medical staff, including specialized medical linguists are dedicated to their health. they provide services, including radiology, surgery, dental, and mental health services. detainees enjoy up to 12 hours of recreation a day with access to academic classes, media, religious services, and various group activities and common

spaces. extent, it is hard to understand how housing detainees indefinitely and other nations facilities or u.s. super max prisons.-- prisons, in super max their rights will not change in their treatment will likely be much more circumscribed. and, as for detention facilities abroad, the u.s. cannot guarantee that other nations will offer a similar level of legal right or humanitarian treatment. in those cases, the legal right and treatment of detainees with hypothetically -- would be hypothetically far worse. any humanitarian assessment of guantanamo bay must take into the accounts of the actions the prisoner has taken. -- once geared towards

minimizing the number of detainees. the president has greatly accelerated the use of strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles on suspected terrorists. far outpacing the strike rate of president george w. bush. those terrorists or occasionally captured are generally held by third-party countries. who far below our international standards, much less the world-class standards of guantanamo bay. the president has moved to capture terrorists into the u.s. civil criminal justice system where they enjoy heightened procedural rights. from a tactical perspective, these methods are either impossible or greatly limit our ability to interrogate and gather intelligence from terrorists on their organizations and plots. while they strongly support airstrikes were necessary, i do not support them as a method of avoiding the burden of capturing and interrogating a terrorists.

you cannot easily obtain valuable intelligence from terrorists held by other powers are protected by the fifth amendment right of self-determination. make no mistake, the interrogation of detainees has you -- yielded immeasurable benefits. information has been described by the cia as the leads information and the ability to recognize the importance of the -- crucial understanding that hiding andladen's his information. it is this information that we are losing by not making great use of guantanamo. the president may not acknowledge the contradictions of closing guantanamo bay, but did let the people of congress do. proofs. congress by vito

majorities has voted to prohibit the transfer of guantanamo detainees to u.s. shores. just last month, the president signed a national defense operational act which contained an amendment i offered to restrain the requirements for detainee transfers a given congress more insight on how detainees will be monitored after they are transferred. it is shocking, that in many instances, the u.s. and countries accepting guantanamo detainees, do not enter into formal written agreements into how they will be housed in cap from returning to the battlefield. one has to look no further than the press reports associated with the transfer of five detainees to uruguay last year. these terrorists were given housing a few short blocks away from the u.s. embassy and would repeatedly show up at the facility. should any american forced to show up at a place of work along

with hardened terrorists trained by al qaeda and the taliban. unfortunately, with this this statute does not fully resolve the measure. president obama has shown the intention to ignore laws, even the ones he personally signed that up and i were constitutional order and ignore the american people. look at his transfer of five taliban commanders to qatar in the 30e for -- violated day congressional notification requirement. president obama has raised thinly veiled threats in order to close guantanamo to bring you terrorists to u.s. soil. it would be the most recent assertion of executive power in over a century and sparked a

grave constitutional crisis. even those members support the closure of guantanamo will likely rise in opposition to could only be seen as an extraordinary, extralegal usurpation of congress's power. the president's power is at the acts in bolde defiance of a congressional prohibition. for such action to survive scrutiny, the president must possess his close of constitutional authority to take the action. in a few cases in which a conflict has arisen, it is a hard call, but that is not so here. the constitution powers congress, not the president, with the power to make rules concerning captures on land and water. an explicit resident -- reservation to the legislative branch. congress presents its clear power to control u.s. borders and make rules regarding immigration and naturalization.

including rules governing the movement of detainees to u.s. soil. you cannot claim that congress has no power in these areas, it will be ludicrous. -- indicate recent that the president cannot trump legislation regarding wartime transfer of detainees to u.s. soil. president obama prides himself the -- a clash between the political branches that would do much damage to the legal fabric of our public. i would hope that the president considers what his younger self would say to a classroom filled of first-year law students. it would be demoralizing and a disillusioned lecture. when that would be unable to

grab the action in court law and circumvent the constitutional order to achieve political ends. president obama could harken back to his campaign speeches about president bush's suppose it accesses. media coverage and commentary on guantanamo often focuses on the plight of the 170 detainees remain there. on those in dwell custody and the number of years ahead of them. they wallow on those colored narratives put forth by the detainees lawyers about how they are low-level folks caught up in in a warical tides that they hardly understood and what they were not responsible for. these commentators have the blissfulof living in ignorance. never having the burden or the

duty of reading classified files of these detainees that lay bare the horrible atrocities of which they participated. -- these detainees are not the sole actors. while many fixate on detainees, my mind focuses on others. i think the members of the u.s. armed forces who everyday guard and maintain guantanamo. earlier this year, i had the opportunity to lead a congressional delegation to the guantanamo bay for certain -- detention facility revisited these fine men and women. the must end your verbal assault of detainees, in addition to grotesque fronts. those at the front serving act upon them obey -- guantanamo bay , i thank you for your service. releasede many of them

to take up arms against the brothers. takenk the innocent lives and destroyed by these terrorists on 9/11 and terrorist attacks predated that fateful unfurledthe world that in the aftermath to this day. i think of individuals who will be killed in the societies that the be the stabilized by detainees that been released and may be released by the president in the future. it is these people whom we should remember. we must recognize the scope of the long war the jihadist are waging against us. bay this warm -- guantanamo must remain open. thank you, god bless you, and god bless united states. [applause]

he has to run off as the center of duty and vote for something. this is the heritage tie that i will be where, merry christmas to you. for attending. c-span, "washington journal," is next. -- live coverage of the congressman rob wittman on national security threats in the

fight against isis in iraq and syria. proposed gun legislation and homeland security. and elizabeth grossman discusses her article about lax regulations of toxic chemicals. comment on, i do not what is going on in the presidential election. i will take an exception today. this is not conservatism. what was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for, and more importantly, it is not what this country stands for. ♪ >> speaker of the house paul ryan yesterday responding to donald trump's call for a ban on muslims. ryan's criticisms were echoed for the rest of the gop