US president Barack
Obama released a new plan for closing Guantanamo Bay today (Feb. 23). “This is
about closing a chapter in our history,” he said at a press conference. “It
reflects the lessons that we’ve learned since 9/11, lessons that need to guide
our nation going forward.” The text of the plan opens with many of Obama’s
well-worn arguments for closing the notorious offshore detention center:
Closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is a
national security imperative. Its continued operation weakens our national
security by furthering the recruiting propaganda of violent extremists,
hindering relations with key allies and partners, and draining Department of
Defense resources.
In the seven years
since the president signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay–a plan
that was met with immense pushback from Congress and the public–Obama has
regularly delivered variations of these same arguments. They often came in
statements following his annual signing of the Defense Authorization Act, which
consistently included provisions from Congress that would block the president’s
efforts to close the facility. In 2013, as detainees in the prison carried out
a hunger strike, Obama announced that he would redouble his efforts to close
the detention center. Last November, after signing the final Defense
Authorization Act of his presidency, Obama noted that many of the facility’s
prisoners had already been transferred out. Today, he said that only 91
detainees remain in Guantanamo Bay (which once held nearly 800) and once again
asked Congress to remove the provisions keeping them there.
