Despite saying that he would since early in his term, President Obama is not going to close the prison at Guantanamo where forty-five prisoners still languish. Below are remarks by Jeremy Varon, a long time advocate of the closing of the prison and torture center.
“The continued existence of the detention facility at Guantanamo is a devastating policy failure for President Obama and stain on his legacy,” stated Jeremy Varon with Witness Against Torture. “The prison never should have existed in the first place, and it should not exist now. It is a place of torture, a giant crime scene with which the United States has never fully reckoned. In Gitmo, America has institutionalized the idea of indefinite detention without charge or trial. Holding exclusively Muslim men, the prison is also the fiercest edge of an Islamophobia that has only gathered steam.”
“And Guantanamo lies at the ready for Trump or even some future president to re-populate with U.S. captives,” he continued. “Sadly, it remains a part of America’s security apparatus, laws, and very soul.” From http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/18/thats-it-eight-years-later-obama-white-house-admits-gitmo-wont-close
For his part Trump not only wants to leave the prisoners there, but to send others to the nefarious prison camp.
This is a shameful and sad step on Obama’s part and will allow Trump to do his worst.
We can write and call both Obama and Trump as well as our representatives in both houses of Congress. If anything, things under Trump will probably be worse for the remaining prisoners.
Shameful. Another shameful blot on the United States.