Obama Still Working to Close Gitmo
He’s going to close it one prisoner at a time.
During his State of the Union remarks, Barack Obama said that he would continue to make the closing of Guantanamo Bay Detention Center a reality — just like he’s said for the last seven years. “I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo,” Obama said. “It’s expensive, it’s unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies.” Late last year, Obama lost a political fight to close the prison that is holding terrorists and suspected terrorists. He tried to attach a proposal to the defense-spending bill that would authorize a move of Gitmo detainees to a prison in the States — even vetoing the bill when it arrived on his desk without his demands. Now, Obama will again use executive action to subvert the will of Congress and U.S. law. His administration has been releasing prisoners, five in trade for Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, and now 10 Yemenis will be shipped off to the United Arab Emirates because this administration no longer considers them a threat. But this administration also once argued Iraq was stable enough to leave. While Obama won’t close Gitmo all at once, he will close it one prisoner at a time.
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- Guantanamo
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