“We’re going to close Guantanamo.” – Barack Obama, June 24, 2007
It’s unconscionable that President Obama is more concerned about keeping a campaign promise, and preserving some sort of legacy with his base, than he is in protecting our national security. Yet it’s happening before our eyes.
The faces of the five detainees (below) released in exchange for the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in May 2014 became highly visible, but since then the president has authorized the release of others no longer considered a threat. Tell me they will not return to the fight. Four others were returned to Afghanistan.
Two leftist organizations aren’t satisfied. Amnesty International and the Center for Constitutional Rights, two so-called civil rights organizations, have set up a website with an active GITMO Clock, holding President Obama to his January 2010 promise to begin releasing prisoners cleared to leave by his task force. See it here. Website visitors are encouraged to call the White House and ask that President Obama transfer all those cleared for release. Pressure on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to expedite clearances is also included.
It matters not that the number of Yemeni’s cleared for release has grown to 59. Al Qaeda openly trains Islamic Radicals for terrorism in Yemen. The Paris terrorists bragged about their training in Yemen.
Since Hagel announced he was stepping down, it became known that his refusal to go along with the president on the transfers was causing friction with the White House.
In mid-2014, the New York Times reported that Hagel was in no rush to sign off on them. “My name is going on that document. That’s a big responsibility. What I am doing is, I am taking my time. I owe that to the American people …,” said Hagel. I was not a supporter of Hagel when he was selected to head Defense, but I am proud of the stand he is taking on Gitmo. There were no transfers under his predecessor Leon Panetta.
In a three-page memo to Hagel, Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice required him to provide an update on his actions regarding the clearances every two weeks, and stated that a zero risk standard wasn’t possible.
Congress needs to step in, stop the transfers and all talk of closing Guantanamo.
