'It is contrary to our values': Obama finally details plan to shut down Guantanamo Bay

[superbeets]

[h=2]'It is contrary to our values': Obama finally details plan to shut down Guantanamo Bay, transfer 50 prisoners to America and save $85 million - seven years after he first promised it[/h][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]President Barack Obama addressed an issue this morning that has been plaguing him since he took office: how to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Obama signed an executive order to close the detention camp in 2009 but backtracked amid hurdles such as where to send some 50 detainees deemed too dangerous to release and how to handle all but two dozen other prisoners with this evidence files. In accordance with today's congressional deadline demanding a road map to shut the Cuba-based facility, the Pentagon is proposing that dozens of the remaining 91 terror suspects be transferred to United States.

 

[superbeets]

[h=1]Obama says he WILL shut down Guantanamo Bay before he leaves the White House - but plan is already 'dead on arrival' say Republicans[/h]

• Guantanamo's 'most dangerous' terror suspects may end up on US soil under new Pentagon plans to close the camp
• No sites have been named in the US, but the Pentagon has looked at military bases and prisons in Colorado, Kansas and South Carolina
• NO GO: Moments after Obama spoke Senate Armed Services Chair John McCain blasted it as a 'vague menu of options, not a credible plan...let alone a coherent policy' for handling future terrorist detainees

By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT and JAMES WILKINSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 15:45, 23 February 2016 | UPDATED: 16:12, 23 February 2016

 

[superbeets]

President Barack Obama begged Congress this morning to put to bed an issue that has been plaguing him since he took office: the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
'I don't want to pass this problem on to the next president whoever it is,' said Obama, who is in his final year in office. 'And if as a nation we don't deal with this now, when will we deal with it?'
The president asked rhetorically, 'Are we going to let this linger on for another 15 years, another 20 years another 30 years?'
'If we don't do what's required now, I think future generations are going to look back and ask why we failed to act when the right course, the right side of history, and justice, and our best American traditions was clear.'
In accordance with today's congressional deadline demanding a road map to shut the Cuba-based facility, the Pentagon is proposing that nearly 60 of the remaining 91 terror suspects be transferred to United States.
Moments after Obama spoke, Senate Armed Forces Chairman John McCain signaled that the plan had no hope of making it out of his committee and was dead on arrival.
The Republican senator who also backs the closure of the facility described the Obama administration plan as 'a vague menu of options, not a credible plan...let alone a coherent policy to deal with future terrorist detainees.'

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President Barack Obama begged Congress this morning to put to bed an issue that has been plaguing him since he took office: the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba

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President Barack Obama addressed an issue this morning that has been plaguing him since he took office: how to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

 

[superbeets]

Promise: Barack Obama made a promise to shut the prison in 2009, but will face a tough fight in Congress. Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte (right) says his administration does not 'level with the American people'

Obama signed an executive order to close the detention camp in 2009 but backtracked amid hurdles such as where to send some 50 detainees deemed too dangerous to release and how to handle all but two dozen other prisoners with this evidence files.
Now his administration is asking to bring them to the U.S.
The Pentagon blueprints propose sending 35 prisoners who have been cleared for transfer to either their homelands or third countries, and bringing the others— described as 'the most dangerous prisoners' by CNN — back to maximum-security prisons on US soil.
It does not say where though, angering lawmakers who live in states with prisons named as possible sites in the past.
According to Reuters, Pentagon officials have already surveyed a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, a military jail at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Navy brig at Charleston, South Carolina.
Sending the terrorists to the U.S. is an option that will require the approval of Congress, which banned the action in 2011.
There is opposition to closing the detainment camp on both sides of Congress, but particularly in the Republican Party.
Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said on Monday the Obama administration refused to 'level with the American people regarding the terrorist activities and affiliations of the detainees who remain at Guantanamo.'
However, the White House reiterated Obama's long-held assertion that Guantanamo functions as a terrorist 'recruiting tool' and asked lawmakers to look at the plan 'with an open mind'.

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Possible location: The Pentagon has looked at the US army base at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as one possible location for ex-Guantanamo detainees, but will not announce any specific locations

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Brig: The US Navy brig at Charleston was another site looked at by the Pentagon

 

[superbeets]

There are other problems for Obama. As CNN reported, he recently signed the defense authorization and defense appropriations bills, both of which have specific provisions barring Guantanamo detainees from entering the U.S.
In a letter to Congress, Army Lieutenant General William Mayville, director of the Joint Staff, wrote: 'Current law prohibits the use of funds to "transfer, release, or assist in the transfer or release" of detainees from Guantanamo Bay to or within the United States. The Joint Staff will not take any action contrary to those restrictions.'
A US official told CNN that the Pentagon's proposal would request legislative 'relief' from the ban. The White House may also say that the bans are unconstitutional as they stop Obama from making military decisions as commander in chief.
If these issues must be decided in court, the closure of Guantanamo could be delayed until long after Obama has left office.
Friction could also come in the form of lawsuits from the states to which the prisoners will be relocated.

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Criticism: The detainment camp has long been criticized by human rights activists and foreign governments, with claims of torture, sexual abuse and religious persecution from former prisoners

In the meantime, efforts are being made to speed up parole-style reviews to determine whether more prisoners can be added to the release list, officials said, and plans may also include sending prisoners to other countries for trial and prosecution.
Those plans also include costs for upgrading US facilities that will be used to house the inmates. The White House already rejected one proposal last year for being too costly.
The White House has left open the possibility of Obama again using executive powers to close the facility.
The prison was opened in 2002 by then-president George W Bush, but quickly drew criticism from human rights activists and foreign governments. Some who have left the camp have accused guards of torture, sexual abuse and religious persecution.

 

[Acebb]

This idiot president doesn't have the slightest clue what America's values are. He openly hates the principles on which America was founded.

He can't go away soon enough.

 

[Dave007inVegas]

This idiot president doesn't have the slightest clue what America's values are. He openly hates the principles on which America was founded.

He can't go away soon enough.

American values my ass. Muslim values maybe but sure as hell not American.

http://www.timeanddate.com/countdow...11&msg=Countdown+until+Obama+is+OUT+OF+OFFICE

 

[ScottL]

"Dear person who was mistakenly accused of being an enemy combatant. My apologies. Here's a plane ticket and an Apple iphone."

Love, Barack Obama

 

[Dave007inVegas]

Blah, blah, blah. Obama says he WILL shut down Guantanamo Bay before he leaves the White House.


Really? Nice try.


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorney General Loretta Lynch reiterated, while testifying before a House panel Wednesday, that it is against the law for President Obama to transfer detainees from the Guantánamo Bay prison to U.S. soil.


“That is the state of the law,” Lynch told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, citing the most recent defense policy signed into law by President Obama last year.


“It’s certain that we would be prohibited from doing so.