Northern Virginia Delegation Visits Guantanamo Prison

Although they may not all agree on every issue, Northern Virginia's congressional delegation banded together last week to visit the Guantanamo Bay Prison. Opened at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, Guantanamo was established by President George W. Bush to hold detainees suspected of connections to global terrorism organizations.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D), Congressman Frank Wolf (R-10th), Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-11th) and Congressman Jim Moran (D-8th) all visited the notorious detention camp Friday.

Read: Statement of Congressman Wolf upon his return from visiting Guantanamo Bay.

Kaine, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, released the following statement after his trip to the detention facility at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay:

“I expect the Senate to have a vigorous debate about the future of the detention facility at Guantanamo when we take up the Defense Authorizing bill in September," Kaine said Monday in a news release. 

"In order to inform myself, I went there last Friday with Virginia Congressmen Frank Wolf, Jim Moran and Gerry Connolly. We had a full tour and it provided necessary context for the debate ahead. I was glad that our visit coincided with the Administration announcing the transfer of two detainees to Algeria. I believe we need to do more to expedite such transfers and look forward to working with my colleagues on the right solutions in the days ahead.”

Moran also applauded the Obama administration's actions. “I applaud the President’s commitment to closing this facility and will continue pursuing all legislative options that will allow for the transfer of the remaining 84 detainees who have been cleared," he said in a news release.

Moran has introduced and cosponsored seven amendments to authorization and appropriations bills in the House to allow for transfer of the detainees who have been cleared for transfer to the United States for trial or foreign countries for release or further detention.

Moran made some news Monday by telling the Huffington Post about some of the reading material at the prison.

"Rather than the Quran, the book that is requested most by the [high-value detainees] is Fifty Shades of Grey. They've read the entire series in English, but we were willing to translate it," Moran, who advocates for closing the facility, told HuffPost. "I guess there's not much going on, these guys are going nowhere, so what the hell."

There are 166 detainees left at Guantanamo. Eighty-six were cleared for release in 2010, but remain imprisoned because Congress has refused to authorize funds for their removal. An additional 46 have been classified as impossible to put on trial.