Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Monday regarding the administration’s decision to follow a bipartisan recommendation of Congress to try the 9/11 plotters in military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rather than in civilian courts in U.S. cities:

“Amidst all the other business we’ll be dealing with this week, I’d like to take a moment to note a welcome development in the war on terror.

“For the last two years, the Obama Administration has actively sought to bring the 9/11 plotters into our communities for civilian trials, a horrible idea that rightly drew overwhelming bipartisan opposition from the American people and their elected representatives here in Congress.

“Today, the administration is announcing that it has changed course, and that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the others who plotted these horrible attacks will be tried in military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, rather than in a civilian trial in New York or some other U.S. city.

“This is the right outcome to the long and spirited debate that preceded this decision. Military Commissions at Guantanamo, far from the U.S. mainland, were always the right idea for a variety of compelling reasons which I and others have enumerated repeatedly over the past two years.

“For the sake of the safety and security of the American people, I’m glad the President reconsidered his position on how and where to try these detainees. Going forward, this model should be the rule rather than the exception.

“I'm sure this decision will draw widespread approval.

“It is very welcome news.”