Congress doesn’t want Guantanamo detainees in US

According to a Bloomberg View columnist, leaders of the US military say they cannot allow detainees from Guantanamo bay on US soil, until the law barring their transfer from the detention centre to the US is changed.

As he makes progress in his promise to close down the detention facility, President Obama has transferred 151 detainees to other countries since 2009, but cannot send the highest risk detainees to other countries.

While he faces this obstacle, Congress also passed legislation in December 2010 and November 2015, barring the release or transfer of detainees from the offshore detention facility to the US – and Congress did so with a majority that is beyond presidential veto.

The Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt. General William Mayville Jr., reportedly wrote in a recent letter to Congress, that the joint staff will not take any action contrary to the restrictions in place.

Now President Obama cannot send the most risky detainees to other countries and Congress doesn’t want them in the US.

Obama promised to close down Guantanamo but he also promised not to repeat George W. Bush’s use of executive orders to bypass and override Congress.

“The question now is whether Obama will break his campaign promises on presidential power in order to fulfill his campaign promise to close Guantanamo”, the columnist writes.

You can read the original article by Eli Lake on Bloomberg View here

By Emmanuel Odonkor