Another attempt at closing Gitmo

“The White House is close to bringing Congress another plan for closing the prison for terrorism detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a campaign pledge that President Barack Obama hasn’t given up on, his spokesman said Wednesday. “There has got to be a better way for us to spend taxpayer dollars than to spend more than $100 million a year operating a prison that only has, I think now, 116 inmates,” press secretary Josh Earnest said. “There also has to be a better way for us to protect our national security interests than to deliver on a silver platter a particularly effective recruiting tool for terrorists, which is to continue the operation of that prison.” Under a defense policy bill passed by the Senate, lawmakers would consider the White House plan and decide whether to ease restrictions that make it harder for Obama to transfer detainees out of the prison at the U.S. naval base in an effort to close it. The House version of the legislation doesn’t contain that provision, however, and it may not survive when lawmakers finish negotiating a compromise version of the entire bill”.

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