United States President Barack Obama has finally released detailed plans to close the country’s Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility in Cuba.
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“I’ve repeatedly said I do not support the transfer of prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military facility to Colorado”.
He said the detention center is counterproductive in the fight against terrorism because it’s used as propaganda to recruit terrorists and drains military resources.
Since the start of his presidency, the promise made by Obama to close Guantanamo has come up against congressional opposition, especially among the Republicans, who reject transferring the prisoners to sites on US territory.
“These are literally enemy combatants”, he said, adding he would ship terrorists straight to Guantanamo “to find out what they know”. It’s not just about dealing with the current group of detainees, which is a complex piece of business because of the manner in which they were originally apprehended and what happened.
Walorski, R-2nd, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement: “Not only does moving the worst of the worst Guantanamo detainees to US soil endanger Americans but transferring detainees overseas gives them an opportunity to return to the battlefield, putting our troops? lives at risk”.
Obama announced plans to accelerate the periodic reviews of detainees to determine if their continued detainment is necessary. “I do not want to pass this problem onto the next president, whoever it is”, he said, noting with frustration that he has spent “countless hours” on this issue.
John McCain also criticized the plan.
However, what was most intriguing about the president’s announcement today was not what was said, but rather what was behind him. “As a nation, if we don’t deal with this now, when will we deal with it?”
But Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have vociferously objected, and Congress has passed legislation forbidding Mr. Obama’s administration from transferring any detainees held at the facility to the United States.
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The plan lists 13 potential locations within the U.S.to transfer detainees to, officials said Tuesday, reports CNN.
