Prisoners being held at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should remain at the facility, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday.
Advertisement
The White House is finalizing a Guantanamo closure plan that’s expected to be delivered to Congress in the coming days.
“The anti-torture provisions in the bill are the culmination of a hard-fought campaign to ensure that cruel and inhuman treatment is never again the official policy of the United States”, said Human Rights First’s Raha Wala.
Washington state Rep. Adam Smith, the senior Democrat on the committee, said the bipartisan bill is a “reflection of how the Congress” should work and that it brings stability to Pentagon acquisition and the need for long-term planning.
“What I’m just saying is that, if we continue to be rebuffed by Congress, then I wouldn’t take anything off the table when it comes to our effort to try to our efforts to try to accomplish this national security priority”.
“Our prison system has already demonstrated the ability to house and detain convicted terrorists”, Earnest said. “… but if Congress continues to refuse, I wouldn’t rule out the president using every element of his authority to make progress” on closing the prison. The law now bans detainees from being transferred to USA soil, but facilities in several states, including Kansas, South Carolina and Colorado have been discussed.
President Obama has battled with Congress for years to close GITMO; now the White House is signaling that the President is open to taking executive action to shut down GITMO.
Advertisement
The other Republican members of the Kansas delegation – Sen.
