WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) held a joint press conference to discuss their visit last week to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The senators discussed a military court order issued at the request of the “9/11 Five” that restricts how fully-qualified and well-performing women guards at Guantanamo do their jobs—simply because they are women. During their visit, the senators met with women guards at Guantanamo and discussed how this court order is negatively impacting operations, inhibiting their ability to compete successfully for promotion, and damaging morale.
“After visiting Guantanamo for the first time and seeing firsthand the incredible character of the men and women serving at the detention facility, I am deeply concerned with a court order that prevents female service members from doing their jobs and serving in the same capacity as their male counterparts,” said Senator Capito. “These women deserve better and should not be prevented from fully performing their duties simply because of a capitulation to the demands of terrorists."
In total, there are 114 detainees still detained at Guantanamo, and they include terrorist trainers, former bodyguards of Osama bin Laden, terrorist financiers, recruiters and facilitators, and bomb makers.
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