The president submitted to Congress on Tuesday a plan to close the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay—a proposal that hinges on convincing GOP lawmakers to lift the ban on bringing detainees into the US.
The blueprint named 13 different locations stateside, including already existing prisons and military bases in Kansas, Colorado, and South Carolina, that the Pentagon believes would be suitable to house the remaining Gitmo population.
“It’s not just about closing the facility at Guantanamo, not just about dealing with the current group of detainees,” President Obama said in a speech from the White House Tuesday morning. “This is about closing a chapter in our history. It reflects the lessons that we learned since 9/11—lessons that need to guide our nation going forward.”
There are currently 91 individuals still incarcerated at the military camp in Cuba, and the White House is working to transfer many of them out of the prison and into the custody of willing foreign countries. The administration anticipates, however, that between 30 and 60 detainees will still remain at Guantanamo by year’s end, deemed too dangerous for transfer.
The vast majority of prisoners at Gitmo are post-9/11 terror suspects and foreign fighters who have not been charged with any crime—either because there’s too little evidence, or because the evidence gleaned was through torture and is, thus, inadmissible in court.
Ten detainees are facing military commissions, which the president knocked for being too costly and ineffective. “They have resulted in years of litigation without a resolution,” he said, adding that he’s submitted plans to Congress to reform the proceedings.
He also made a pitch for trying more terror suspects in the federal circuit. As the president noted, the judicial branch has already secured several post-9/11 convictions against individuals like the “shoebomber” Richard Reid and Boston Marathon attacker Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Obama made a campaign promise in 2008 to close Guantanamo. Throughout his administration he has cited the spiraling high costs to maintain the facility, and its propaganda value for terrorists, as reasons why it must be shuttered.
Congress, however, has worked to impede the Commander in Chief, using the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to pass provisions that bar the administration from transferring detainees to the US, and to other violent hot spots around the world like Yemen.
President Obama has largely gone along with initiatives. He signed into law each of those legislative measures, albeit, with an accompanying statement expressing his disagreement with the restrictions.
The Pentagon priced its prisoner relocation plan at $475 million—most of it stemming from construction costs. The expenditures would be offset by $180 million in annual savings reaped from the closure of Guantanamo. Other details of the plan are classified, and for Congress’ eyes only.
“Given the stakes involved for our security, this plan deserves a fair hearing—even in an election year,” Obama said.
In comments Tuesday morning from the floor, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the president’s Gitmo plan an “ill-conceived crusade.” He wasn’t too optimistic about lawmakers supporting it.
“We’ll review President Obama’s plan, but since it includes bringing dangerous prisoners to facilities in US communities, he should know the bipartisan will of congress has already been expressed against this proposal,” McConnell said in prepared remarks.
Though the odds that Congress backs the president on a signature campaign promise in his final year are long, the administration could argue that the President’s Article II war powers give him sole authority to make decision on military prisoners.
During testimony last November, however, Attorney General Loretta Lynch claimed the Department of Justice might not be on board with a unilateral approach to closure.
“The law currently does not allow for that,” she said. “And that is not, as I’m aware, going to be contemplated given the legal prescriptions.”
