Lawmakers Trade Blows Over Obama's Plan to Close Guantanamo Prison

U.S. lawmakers traded jabs Saturday over President Obama's plan to close the Guantanamo detention center, with Republicans calling the plan "dangerous" and Democrats saying it would restore America's moral standing in the world.

Obama has pledged to close the detention center for terrorist suspects by January, but the White House has yet to say where the 241 detainees will be sent.

Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, delivering the Republicans' weekly radio and Internet address, said Saturday that Obama's plan "is a dangerous case of putting symbolism over security," and he called on the president to disclose where the terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent.

"The American people have a right to know exactly what the White House plans to do with these terrorists," said Bond, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Americans don't want these terrorists in their neighborhood."

Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., told FOX News that Obama should keep the prison open.

"These are very dangerous people," he said. "I think the president is caving into world opinion and he's attempting to fulfill a campaign pledge without having any real idea what the consequences are or where these detainees are going to go."

Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., countered the Republican criticisms in an opinion article Saturday in the Washington Post. Moran noted that both Obama and Sen. John McCain pledged on the presidential campaign trail last year to close the prison because they realized detaining suspects indefinitely had damaged America's reputation around the world and fueled "terrorist recruitment and anti-American sentiment."

"While closing Guantanamo would go a long way toward removing this stain on our national character, the decision to do so was the easy part," he wrote. "What to do with the detainees who remain of the more than 700 sent there since 2001 is much more difficult."

Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., who is considering challenging Sen. Arlen Specter in next year's Democratic primary, told FOX News that the president could have kept Guantanamo opened as long as due process and habeas corpus were instituted.

"But as a symbol around the world, the decision was made which I can support to close it," he said. "Now what do we do with the detainees? The issue now is how do we abjudicate under due process, making sure they're prosecuted appropriately?"

On Friday, it was learned that Obama had a 25-minute discussion with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh about what might be done with about 100 Yemeni prisoners. The United States wants Saleh's support for a plan to send them to terrorist rehabilitation centers in Saudi Arabia. The Yemeni president reportedly wants the Yemeni prisoners sent back to their homeland.

Bond, in his radio address, said the president "has no plan for what to do with these killers" and that the administration has suggested some of them may come to the United States.

"There is no easy solution here," Bond said. "But having no solution and moving forward with the closing of the prison at Guantanamo is a dangerous gamble with our security here at home and our troops abroad."

Moran, meanwhile, suggested that the residents in his district should be open to the option of trying detainees in Virginia if the president deemed it necessary. Some have speculated about potential use of a federal courthouse and detention facility in Alexandria, Va.

"Like those in any other congressional districts, we Virginians would rather not have terrorism suspects held and tried in our back yard," Moran wrote, conceding that the media attention in such a scenario would probably prompt public outrage over safety concerns. "Often, though, doing the right thing is neither popular nor convenient."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.