A week after
Sen. Tom Cotton said detainees at Guantanamo Bay can "rot" there, the Arkansas Republican reportedly said he'd like to see the United States stop providing assistance to any allies that help resettle transferred prisoners from the Cuban prison camp.
According to the Huffington Post, Cotton made the suggestion last week during an Armed Services Committee hearing regarding the closing of Guantanamo Bay that was closed to the media.
Cotton's idea came in the form of an amendment and it was shot down, although his communications director Caroline Rabbitt told the Huffington Post the amendment didn't actually fail because it was never offered as a vote.
Still, Cotton's willingness to hang U.S. allies out to dry is a clear warning shot that the 37-year-old freshman senator, who served a combat tour in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan as an Army officer, is ready to advocate for change in Washington.
Cotton served one term in the House before defeating two-term Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor in Arkansas' Senate election in November.
President Barack Obama has vowed to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, which has seen a flood of detainees released over the past several years. Many of those released prisoners have returned to the battlefield, according to reports.
One such prisoner was killed in a recent U.S. airstrike.
A proposed Senate bill would stop the government from closing the prison, which houses suspected terrorists.
Cotton's idea didn't see the light of day, which some argue is a good thing.
"Even in the world of bad ideas on Guantanamo policy, proposing to punish some of America's closest allies for agreeing to resettle cleared detainees from Guantanamo would cause grave harm to American foreign policy," Chris Anders of the American Civil Liberties Union told the Huffington Post. "It's good to know that the Senate Armed Services Committee has some line somewhere that they're not willing to cross in their partisan attacks on the president's Guantanamo policy."
Two weeks ago, Cotton said he'd like to see the detainees at Guantanamo Bay "rot in hell."
"In my opinion, the only problem with Guantanamo Bay is there are too many empty beds and cells there right now," Cotton said. "We should be sending more terrorists there. As far as I’m concerned, every last one of them can rot in hell.
"But as long as they can’t do that, they can rot in Guantanamo Bay."