President Obama is slowly draining the terrorist prison in Guantanamo Bay before turning the White House keys over to Trump.
In the wee hours of the morning, it was announced that Oman accepted ten GITMO prisoners.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Oman accepted the men in accordance with U.S. efforts to settle the Guantanamo issue, the country’s state-controlled news agency said in a brief statement, citing an Omani Foreign Ministry source. It didn’t release the names or nationalities of the men. A request for further details wasn’t immediately returned.The transfer follows others by the U.S. to its Persian Gulf allies in recent years. Many of the detainees have been Yemenis whom the U.S. hesitated to resettle in their home country given the continuing conflict and political instability there.
As the WSJ points out, there were 55 detainees remaining before the latest prisoner transfer to Oman.
Over the last several months, President Obama has released a total of thirty-one prisoners (including those recently released):
In August 2016, the largest single release under President Obama took place, when 15 men — 12 Yemenis and three Afghans — were released in the United Arab Emirates. Six of these men had been approved for release by Obama’s task force in 2010, and nine others had been approved for release by Periodic Review Boards. In October, another release took place — of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, torture victim and best-selling author, who had also been approved for release by a PRB, and in December another Yemeni approved for release by a PRB was freed in Cape Verde.As 2017 began, President Obama released four more Yemeni prisoners — to Saudi Arabia, also promising to release between 13 and 15 of the 19 men approved for release before he leaves office and the uncertainties of Donald Trump’s presidency begin in earnest.
Campaigning prior to the 2008 election, President Obama promised to shutter GITMO. President-elect Trump has promised to keep the detention facility open.
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