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May 21, 2009

Obama: Guantanamo Prison Closure Will Go Forward
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=245FD2E:A6F02AD83191E160B2C4069EFC63CB600531BB26A5003E7B&
 
Barack Obama tells audience of senior Cabinet officials his single most
important responsibility as president is to keep the American people
safe 
US President Barack Obama delivers speech on closure of Guantanamo
prison in Washington, 21 May 2009President Barack Obama has defended his
decision to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba,
and pledged it will go forward despite criticism inside the United
States and the complex work involved in shutting down the facility. In
Washington Thursday, Mr. Obama said the Guantanamo prison was intended
to strengthen national security but instead it has made the United
States and its moral authority weaker. The detention camp, built within
a U.S. Navy facility in Cuba, was set up in the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001. With other countries
unwilling or unable to accept detainees held at Guantanamo, and with
efforts to try the detainees bogged down in legal challenges and other
problems, Mr. Obama said he is determined to end what he called a "mess"
passed on by the former Bush administration. Some will be transferred to
'supermax!
 ' US prisons Mr. Obama said some detainees will be transferred to
ultra-secure "supermax" U.S. prisons and tried in American federal
courts, while others will face military commissions. He said his
administration has so far approved 50 detainees for transfer to other
countries. The toughest decision, Mr. Obama said, is what to do with
detainees who cannot be prosecuted but still pose what he called a
"clear danger" to the American people. On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate,
controlled by his Democratic Party, voted overwhelmingly, 90-6, to
reject the $80 million needed to close the detention center. The House
of Representatives has made a similar move. Lawmakers have said they
want Mr. Obama to present a clear plan about what to do with the 240
detainees held at Guantanamo. Some fear Americans would be put at risk
if detainees are transferred to U.S. prisons. FBI director echoes
congressional concerns FBI Director Robert Mueller echoed those concerns
in congressional testimony Wednesday, saying the risk would exist even
if the detainees are 
placed in highly secure prisons. In other developments, the U.S. Justice
Department says a suspect in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa will be
brought from Guantanamo to the U.S. to stand trial in federal court on
terrorism charges. The department says the Tanzanian national, Ahmed
Khalfan Ghailani, is a "high value" detainee who has been at Guantanamo
since 2006. Other detainees at Guantanamo include Khalid Sheik Mohammed,
the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.


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