President-elect Barack Obama will order the closing
of the Guantanamo Bay US military prison, his advisers
say, according to Lara Jakes of The Associated Press:
That executive order is expected during Obama's first
week on the job — and possibly on his first day,
according to two transition team advisers. Both spoke
Monday on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak publicly.
Obama's order will direct his administration to figure
out what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaida and Taliban
suspects and potential witnesses who are being held
at Guantanamo.
It's still unlikely the
prison would be closed any time soon. Obama last weekend
said it would be "a challenge" to close it even
within the first 100 days of his administration.
Part of the challenge in closing the Guantanamo prison
is that not all of the detainees, if released, would be
welcome in their home countries. The Pentagon has begun
releasing some prisoners to their countries of origin,
where they can stand trial or be summarily released.
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The ACLU released this statement after the AP report:
“While the news from unnamed sources in the Obama
transition team about the closing of Guantánamo
is certainly welcome, what we need are specifics about
the timeline for the shuttering of the military commissions
and the release or charging of detainees who have been
indefinitely held for years. Executive orders are an important
first step. But we trust that President-elect Obama will
provide a detailed plan for ending the Guantánamo
military commissions, shutting down the Guantánamo
military prison and ending President Bush’s legacy
of indefinite detention. An executive order lacking such
detail, especially after the transition team has had months
to develop a comprehensive plan on an issue this important,
would be insufficient. What we need is an executive order
that is less about rhetoric and more about a detailed
plan – and we’re hoping that that is what
President-elect Obama has planned for January 20.”
