(photo credit: PBS News Hour)
Ka-booooooom. Official White House release! And just a day or so after there was a report that plans to close Gitmo were "faltering". LoL. All I have so far is this tweet from Reuters:
Will update as more comes out...
Closing Gitmo prison was something President Obama tried to do almost immediately as president, but was obstructed by Congress. Closing this horrid facility will get rid of one of Al Qaeda and ISIS' main recruiting tools. Good riddance!
Update 1: 3:36pm ET
From Time:
The Obama Administration is currently drafting a plan to finally close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, racing against the clock to fulfill a long-delayed promise by President Obama before his time in office expires.
“The administration is in the final stages of drafting a plan to safely and responsibly close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and to present that plan to Congress,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday.
Earnest said closing the prison is in the national security interest of the United States.
http://time.com/...
Update 2:
A bit more from the AP, via theday.com:
Earnest said the president has decided to veto a defense spending bill now being negotiated in Congress if it includes provisions that would make it harder to close the prison.
http://www.theday.com/...
Update 3:
Bloomberg has a small but important detail about the plan:
Some prisoners will be scheduled for transfers, while others will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, Earnest said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/...