Gibbs uses recent arrests to make President’s case

The arrest of four men suspected of planning to bomb synagogues in New York City today shows that U.S. facilities are capable of holding terrorists, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said today.

Gibbs noted that Ahmed Ghailani, a current Guantanamo detainee who is under indictment for planning the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, is in the process of being transferred to the same prison where the four men arrested today will be held.

“I haven’t heard anybody suggest that the people the FBI arrested last night are less dangerous [than Ghailani], right?” Gibbs asked in his daily briefing. “I also haven’t heard anybody suggest that the people who were picked up last night should be transferred to Guantanamo.”

President Obama made clear today that at least some Guantanamo detainees will have to be moved to facilities in the United States.

“Where demanded by justice and national security, we will seek to transfer some detainees to the same type of facilities in which we hold all manner of dangerous and violent criminals within our borders’–highly secure prisons that ensure the public safety,” Obama said in his speech at the National Archives today.

Republicans have railed against the possibility that detainees might be transferred into the United States. Last night, the Senate voted to strip funds to close Guantanamo until the administration submits a detailed plan for dealing with detainees.