Obama's Pledge to Close Down Guantanamo is 'Not Even Close'

[JJ Walker]

Obama's Pledge to Close Down Guantanamo is 'Not Even Close'
Commander says camp will take months to shut – and he's still waiting for the order

by Robert Verkaik

Barack Obama's pledge to shut down Guantanamo Bay will not be honoured until at least a year after the President's self-imposed deadline - and may not be completed in his first administration.

The man in charge of the seven prison camps at the US naval base in Cuba is yet to receive direct orders to begin the transfer of prisoners so he can close the detention facilities.

In his first media interview since taking up the post three months ago, Admiral Jeffrey Harbeson said that even if President Obama implemented his order today it would take him six months to complete the job, a year after the January 2010 deadline imposed by the President when he signed the executive order in 2009.

...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/exclusive-obamas-pledge-to-close-down-guantanamo-is-not-even-close-2056370.html

[Wilms]

1. I wonder what Changed.

You? :shrug:

[bigtree]

6. you'd have to read through the obstacles faced to understand the delay

. . . from local and national politics delaying finding a permanent site for those they will continue to detain, to the legal wrangling from the Pentagon and others, to the delay in finding countries to accept the ones that are considered for release.

[CoffeeCat]

2. what about Obama's pledge to reinstate Habeas Corpus?

I'd like that one back too.

He promised. He hasn't delivered.

It's important.

[sandnsea]

3. Did the country not freak over bringing them to the US

I'm not even sure the Senate kept the funding for the Illinois prison. Maybe we need to be picketing in front of some specific senate offices to get some of this stuff done. Obama would be glad to do it.

[Pirate Smile]

5. Congress essentially made it impossible for him to close it. People said they wanted it closed

until he was literally in the process of doing it and Congress threw a friggin fit and blocked all funding. Now - some people like to blame Obama for Congress doing that. It is annoying as hell.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[LostinVA]

8. Why are you accusing the poster of being a zombie?

[MichiganVote]

7. They defy us all, why should a President be exempt?