Obama Reveals Plan to Bring Most Dangerous Gitmo Terrorists to U. S.
Mitch McConnell: the president’s proposal is illegal
Having campaigned on closing Gitmo and on his first day in office signing an executive order to close it within the year, Obama has been steadily emptying the detention center, often in dubious deals and scandalous, logic-defying swaps. This is something that he has been determined to accomplish while in office, and with time running out, he has today proposed a new plan to close Gitmo for good.
Speaking somewhat uncomfortably about American values (as he always does), Obama laid out his reasoning behind and plan for closing Gitmo within the year.
Obama outlined a blueprint that involves transferring the bulk of remaining detainees to other countries and moving the rest — who can’t be transferred abroad because they’re deemed too dangerous — to an as-yet-undetermined detention facility in the United States.
The blueprint comes seven years after Obama made an Oval Office vow to permanently shutter the prison for enemy combatants, but it already faces objections from Republicans and legal obstacles they have placed to transferring Guantanamo detainees to U.S. prisons.
Obama nonetheless said emptying the prison would move the country past what he described as a troubled era of wartime behavior.
“The plan we’re putting forward today isn’t just about closing the facility at Guantanamo. 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. This is about closing a chapter in our history,” he said during short remarks at the White House.
“Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values,” Obama said. “It undermines our standing in the world. It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law.”
The disturbing aspect of this new plan is that he intends to transfer the most dangerous of the remaining terrorists to the United States.
CNN continues:
Obama outlined a blueprint that involves transferring the bulk of remaining detainees to other countries and moving the rest — who can’t be transferred abroad because they’re deemed too dangerous — to an as-yet-undetermined detention facility in the United States.
. . . . Options for housing prisoners in the U.S. include the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado; the military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas; and the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Pentagon officials visited those sites last year to develop “prototype” plans for converting them into detention facilities.
The additional sites included in Tuesday’s plan include other federal and military prisons. The closure plan does not identify a specific facility, though congressional language mandating the plan called for a location to be specified.
Watch:
If this sounds familiar, it should. Obama planned on moving the most dangerous Gitmo terrorists to the U. S. in 2009; however, public opposition and bipartisan pushback ensured that it didn’t—and won’t—happen.
The response from the Congressional leaders to today’s proposal has been swift and strong.
The administration would plan to transfer 35 of the remaining 91 detainees who are deemed to pose a low security risk overseas. Between 30 and 60 of the remaining detainees would eventually be housed in a new facility on the U.S. mainland.
But Congress has banned Gitmo detainees from being transferred to the United States. Republican leaders in both chambers have been dead set against changing the law, especially in an election year, when concerns about terrorism are front and center on voters’ minds.
“His proposal fails to provide taxpayers with critical details required by law, including the exact cost and location of an alternate detention facility,” Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a statement moments after Obama spoke.
“It is against the law — and it will stay against the law — to transfer terrorist detainees to American soil. We will not jeopardize our national security over a campaign promise.”
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor to offer a response to Obama’s latest proposal to close Gitmo.
Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says “it would be illegal under current law to transfer foreign terrorists at Guantanamo into the United States.”
Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, McConnell argued that “President Obama seems to remain captured on one matter by a campaign promise he made way back in 2008” that he would close Guantanamo Bay.
McConnell argued that it is an “ill-considered crusade to close the security detention facility at Guantanamo. Today we received the descriptions of where the president would like to detain terrorists within the United States, though not any actual proposed locations, despite the fact that it would be illegal under current law to transfer foreign terrorists at Guantanamo into the United States.”
Watch:
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Comments
Any bet Obama goes through with it essentially daring the Republicans to do something about his lawless action? Obama has sized up brother McConnell and has found him wanting…….
What a stupid idea! Once they hit US soil, here come the lawyers. Starting with Holder and his law firm. Chairman O’s ideals are certainly not mine. Gitmo is an ideal place for most of these most dangerous of terrorists.
Well, “ideal” would be six foot under.
There’s been quite a bit of discussion about “giving Gitmo back to Cuba” as part of the motivation here, however I recently listened to a very extensive program that described the large scope of operations that are handled from Guantanamo Bay’s base. It seems that while the prison is the most well know part of the operation, it’s actually a very tiny portion of the Base’s functions. It serves as our forward operating station in the Caribbean, fueling and support service for US and Allied ships, subs and aircraft, listening station, support and monitoring during hurricanes and tropical weather events…. the list is pretty exhaustive.
All in all a fairly strategic and high tech location for our military and even civilian functions. Considering the current precariousness of our naval operations it doesn’t seem very wise to reduce it even further.
As if Obama would care a fig about any of that.
Reducing the effectiveness of our navy is exactly what Obama would want to do.
“is contrary to our values”
The new fashionable wording to replace the long discredited “Common Sense” legislation.
Neither Christian nor American. Obama has to fill in the gaps created by his pro-choice cult and progressive wars.
Better watch out when Obama visits Cuba and buddies up with Castro’s reprehensible regime next month … he may have a surprise for us all.
As I understand the agreement by which Gitmo became a US
base, it takes both parties’ agreeing to rescind the arrangement.
Nightmare: Obama hands Gitmo back to Cuba in exchange for Castro’s pledge to keep the bad guys locked up.
After all, Cuba is apparently pretty good at keeping people locked up, sometimes for decades– unless they are trouble for the US, see eg Mariel boatlift.
Obama will have to cross that off his bucket list and go golfing instead.
But then, Obstinate could house them in his presidential library where the inmates would enjoy the Wall of Fundamental Transformation.
On the wall: pictures of Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD- after playing the fundamental race card, a picture of the lesbian couple who sued a Christian couple because their joyous event suffered a predetermined setback, a video of Eric Holder holding Fast and Furious guns and saying “racial animus”, a video of Hillary addressing the bereaved as she lied to them about Benghazi, a scrolling video chosen by Hillary to become the scapegoat for her dereliction of duty, a scrolling video of Michelle Obama saying, “All this for a f*cking flag!” and so much more.
The inmates will feel right at home.
I had forgotten the flag comment. When did Black Americans find Anti-Americanism acceptable? Look at the pictures of FDR’s funeral train crowds. Americans black and white with tears on their faces.
I remember a patriotic Dem party. Scoop Jackson, Warren Magnuson (sp?), JFK. They might not have been perfect but they were patriots. Now the hallmark of anything Democrat is it’s anti-American theme.
If (and only if) he tries this stunt, I have a prediction: It will be on a Sunday when the new media is sleeping Congress is not in session. An aircraft will be quietly loaded with X detainees in Cuba and flown nonstop to Leavenworth KS. By Monday when the news media wake up and Congress finds out, it will be a fait accompli, over and done as the camp gets closed, bulldozed, and reduced to an unlivable state within 24 hours.
Anybody want to lay money on this?
(darned submit instead of preview button)
Leavenworth, because Kansas has a 100% Republican House and Senate representation, and therefore no chance of losing any of his supporters before the election. If he were to try this stunt after the election, the destination could be anywhere.
You’re right the facilities there are not up to Gitmo standards. Gitmo detainees get to choose their variety of ice cream. Probably not a lot of that going on in main-line at chow time in Leavenworth.
Sorry that was meant to be two sentences. Damn dogs have stuck every key on my laptop. You’re right. However, the inmates will find Leavenworth to be a step-down from Gitmo.