Obama to Close Guantanamo Bay Within One Year

by Justin A. Martell

President Barack Obama signed an executive order this afternoon calling for the shut down of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within one year.

According to the order, the executive branch will be reviewing the "factual and legal bases for the continued detention of all individuals currently held at Guantanamo." The order also made it clear that the administration will not be just closing the facility and releasing prisoners at random, stating, "Merely closing the facilities without promptly determining the appropriate disposition of the individuals detained would not adequately serve those interests...The prompt and appropriate disposition of the individuals detained at Guantanamo should precede the closure of the detention facilities at Guantanamo."

Concerns raised within the United States and abroad prompted the drafting and signing of the executive order. A total of 800 prisoners have passed through the facility, with 250 still remaining. The majority of the prisoners have been detained for four years while some have been there as long as six.

The Department of Justice designated the detainees as "enemy combatants," and many have been denied basic legal rights and access to representation. Additionally, there has been a controversy over the coercive techniques used by the Bush Administration in order to extract information from prisoners regarded as pertinent to the "War on Terror." President Obama condemned these practices this afternoon at the signing, saying, "The message that we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly...And we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals."

Sources:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ClosureOfGuantanamoDetentionFacilities/

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieG7u2PNYg98q9HmLI8SgRSYOKWAD95SI3R80

http://www.rferl.org/Content/Obama_Expected_To_Sign_Order_To_Close_Guantanamo/1373320.html

www.formyourown.org