"There's no reason to build this in Guantánamo unless you want to do things you don't think you could get away with on the U.S. mainland. It's easy to put tents in Florida. But they're putting them in Cuba. Ask yourself why."
90 senators, including Bernie Sanders, rejected Obama’s 2009 funding proposal that would’ve closed the camp. And with good reason. Obama’s move would’ve simply moved the prison onshore while continuing the indefinite detention without trial, potentially legitimizing the practice further and providing a clearer legal precedent.
Yes, he technically tried to “close Guantanamo Bay” but in a way that wouldn’t adress the actual reasons people want it closed.
“A number of important questions remain unanswered regarding the rather complicated issue of not just how you close down the facility, but what you do with the prisoners,” he said in part. “In order to answer these questions, President Obama has appointed a high-level committee of top administration officials who will be issuing a report in the coming months. I think that it is prudent to review that plan they develop before we spend $80 million in taxpayer money.”
90 senators, including Bernie Sanders, rejected Obama’s 2009 funding proposal that would’ve closed the camp. And with good reason. Obama’s move would’ve simply moved the prison onshore while continuing the indefinite detention without trial, potentially legitimizing the practice further and providing a clearer legal precedent.
Yes, he technically tried to “close Guantanamo Bay” but in a way that wouldn’t adress the actual reasons people want it closed.
Sanders’ statement:
“A number of important questions remain unanswered regarding the rather complicated issue of not just how you close down the facility, but what you do with the prisoners,” he said in part. “In order to answer these questions, President Obama has appointed a high-level committee of top administration officials who will be issuing a report in the coming months. I think that it is prudent to review that plan they develop before we spend $80 million in taxpayer money.”