Biden: Obama will close GITMO on way out the door
Today in Sweden Vice President Biden let the cat out of the bag, admitting that the administration expects to close GITMO before the end of President Obama’s tenure in January.
This revelation should not come as a surprise to those who have been following the issue. Earlier this year President Obama announced his plan to close GITMO and move the remaining terrorists held there – those awaiting trial or deemed too dangerous to release or transfer – to U.S. soil. An eye-opening Pentagon report released this month detailed the past terrorist activities of those still held at GITMO, a group that includes al-Qaeda bomb makers, Osama bin Laden’s personal bodyguard, and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But the administration has pushed forward with its plan, transferring another 15 detainees to the UAE just 10 days ago, after a report that at least a dozen of those detainees already released had been implicated in subsequent attacks on Americans.
Despite the potentially disastrous consequences, House Democrats have stood firmly behind President Obama on closing GITMO, pushing legislation to allow President Obama to transfer GITMO detainees to facilities within the United States.