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Republicans have reacted angrily to the Pentagon’s plan to give Guantanamo Bay detainees COVID-19 vaccines – including the accused 9/11 leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The US military will provide coronavirus vaccines to 40 detainees at Gitmo, two US defense officials confirmed this week to Fox News.
“It is inexcusable and anti-American that President Biden chooses to prioritize the vaccinations of terrorists convicted in Gitmo over the elderly or vulnerable American veterans,” Representative Elise Stefanik, R-NY said on Saturday.
PENTAGON OFFERS COVID-19 VACCINES TO PRISONERS IN GUANTANAMO BAY
Clayton Trivett Jr., a federal prosecutor in charge of the case against five detainees alleged to have conspired in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, told defense attorneys that “a Pentagon official just signed a note approving the delivery of the COVID-19 Vaccine to the population detained at Guantanamo, ”the New York Times reported.
A lack of vaccines would have made it difficult for federal prosecutors to conduct grassroots war crimes hearings.
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The order was signed on Jan. 27 by Terry Adirim, the senior deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs who was sworn in as a person appointed by Biden on the day of the inauguration, a spokesperson said. Pentagon word to New York Post.
“It will be administered on a voluntary basis and in accordance with the Ministry’s priority distribution plan,” a spokesperson said at the outlet.
Detainees at the base include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or KSM, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. It is not known how many Guantanamo detainees, if any, have been infected with COVID-19 to date. Vaccinations for medical personnel and some troops stationed at the base began on January 8.
But the move – with millions of Americans unvaccinated – immediately drew criticism from Republicans, who accused the Biden administration of prioritizing terrorists over law-abiding Americans.
“Nothing says #unit like letting the 9/11 mastermind and Gitmo inmates jump in front of millions of Americans for the #COVID vaccine,” said Representative Dan Bishop, R-NC.
“Joe Biden: Ensuring Terrorists Have Been Vaccinated Since 2021,” Steve Guest, Communications Advisor to Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted.
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Meanwhile, 9/11 responders were also angered by the announcement.
“You can’t make it up. The ridiculousness of what we’re getting from our government. They’ll pass the vaccine to these living basins in Guantanamo Bay before every resident of the United States of America gets it is the theater absurd, “Tom Von Essen, who was the city’s fire marshal during 9/11, told the Post.
“This is completely crazy,” he said of KSM which could be vaccinated before many Americans.
Fox News’s Thomas Barrabi and Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.
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