Rep. Yoho: Gitmo is a 'necessary evil' that serves a purpose

U.S. Congressman Ted Yoho says the prison at Guantanamo Bay should remain open because it's a "necessary evil" that serves a purpose to the nation.

Yoho calls it a “safe zone” off the mainland where the U.S. can detain “bad players” until they can go through military tribunals.

He says he’s “okay” with some of the vetted prisoners being transferred, but he believes they need to be monitored wherever they go.

“Over thirty percent of the people who have been released from Guantanamo under this administration and in the past, George Bush, have returned to the battlefield fighting our young men and women, carrying the jihad against Western ideology,” he says.

If the prisoners are not determined to be “reformed” after they’re vetted, Yoho says none of them should come to the U.S.

“The majority of U.S. citizens don’t want them here, so therefore Guantanamo has a purpose,” Yoho says.  “But the whole idea of Guantanamo and a detention center is a symptom of an underlying problem, and that is a failed foreign policy of this administration and the previous ones.”

After traveling overseas and talking with military leaders, Yoho says he grew concerned that President Obama will try to give Guantanamo Bay back to Cuba if he can’t close it.

That's why Yoho is the main sponsor of the "Guantanamo Transfer Prevention Act" (HR 4126), which would force the President to go to Congress in such a circumstance.

If the base goes back to Cuba, Yoho believes Russia, China or Iran might vie to use it as their own base or “link up with Cuba.”

As far as the President’s plan to close it, Yoho thinks it has “zero” chance of passing Congress.