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Obama's New Plan to Close Guantanamo

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 01:21:53 PM EST
Tags: Guantanamo (all tags)
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The Wall St Journal (free link) reports President Obama is planning on closing Guantanamo through various executive actions, if necessary, to get around Congress' restrictions on detainee transfers.

Of the 149 who remain, 79 have been approved for transfer by national-security officials but remain because of political or diplomatic obstacles in repatriating them.

[More....]

Another 37 have been designated for continued detention without trial. These are men considered too dangerous to release, yet against whom the government lacks usable evidence. A further 23 have been referred for prosecution by military commission....

It's not clear where those marked for indefinite detention would go. One possibility is the brig at Charleston, S.C.

The cost of housing detainees at Gitmo is sky-high -- and while it pales by comparison, so is the cost of Supermax.

The annual cost per inmate is $2.7 million, in contrast with $78,000 at a Supermax prison on the mainland, officials say.

< Thursday Night Open Thread: "Tax Man" Time | Saturday Morning Open Thread >

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    Obama's New Plan to Close Guantanamo | 42 comments (42 topical)
    I hope this is not yet another float of an idea (5.00 / 3) (#1)
    by ruffian on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 01:59:05 PM EST
    to get my hopes up, cuz he has worn out his welcome with those.

    So frustrating... (none / 0) (#2)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 02:32:36 PM EST
    we don't need another new new plan, just close the f*cking thing.  He's had all the power he needs to do just that since inauguration day 2009...maybe not the way he and others wanna close it, by transferring the worst of the worst where there is no evidence of same to actually quaintly try them to other gulags...but he could close it now by simply giving Gitmo back to Cuba, bringing the staff home, and leaving the prisoners there with a months supply of food and water.

    Added bonus for anti-castro republicans, we pull a reverse Mariel in the process.

    Parent

    That's a plan kdog but... (none / 0) (#3)
    by fishcamp on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 02:42:18 PM EST
    they would camouflage themselves as Cubans, float over here, like the Cubans and Haitians do every day, and it would be my luck they would float right up to my dock.  The Cubans and Haitians are very nice people but, the other guys, not so nice.

    Parent
    Easy now brother... (5.00 / 4) (#11)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 03:02:55 PM EST
    you left out the part where they go to Liberia to contract Ebola before returning to Cuba and rubber rafting it to the Keys and killing us all.

    Parent
    Can you get to Liberia by way of Benghazi? (5.00 / 2) (#16)
    by ruffian on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 03:47:13 PM EST


    Parent
    Have any arrived where you are via (none / 0) (#17)
    by oculus on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 03:48:51 PM EST
    water?  NYT had an article about the vastly-increased # of "Mariels," including some who made landfall on the Keys.

    Parent
    The Marielitos that Castro released to us (none / 0) (#25)
    by fishcamp on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 05:02:36 PM EST
     in the 1980 Mariel boat lifts, were the first to come in a mass group, and we accepted them.   Jimmy Carter stopped this phenomena, later the same year,  after more than 125,000, mostly criminals and mentally ill arrived.  In 1995 we set up the "wet foot, dry foot" program.  If they touch the shore we accept them, and send them to the Krome Detention Center, on the outskirts of Miami, where thousands of Cubans wait in a sort of limbo.  If caught at sea, or even ten feet from shore, they are repatriated back to Cuba, unless they are too sick from the voyage, or can prove they will be sent to prison, or persecuted in Cuba.  Now, just yesterday, some came to shore not far from my house.  They are able to round them up easily down here in the Keys since it's very long, but narrow, so they can't hide.  The ones that make it to Biscayne Bay, in Miami, have many places to hide and friends to hide with.  Only the original group were named  Marielitos.  Mariel is the name of a Cuban province.  Haitians, on the other hand, are immediately sent back to Haiti if caught either on or offshore.  My apologies, Jeralyn if this strayed from the original topic of the Guantanamo detainees.

    Parent
    My German is lots better than my non-existent (none / 0) (#29)
    by oculus on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 05:31:06 PM EST
    Spanish. Here's the NYT article, which I misread as to "Mariel."

    link

    Many of those criminals, not too surprisingly, ended up committing subsequent crimes in the U.S.. Sometimes the prosecutors and probation officers in the U. S. discovered this information and sometimes not.

    Parent

    Oculus, you had the name correct, (none / 0) (#30)
    by fishcamp on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 06:30:24 PM EST
    it is Mariel.  That boat the doctor, and others, that made it to shore was one of the stranger ones.  The Miami Herald had photos of it, and that motor they speak of was in the center of the boat, because the stern and sides were so flimsy.  Not sure how they steered it, but they can build carburetors for Buicks from Studebaker carbs, and other totally crazy car "options.'

    Parent
    Actually Congress won't give him (none / 0) (#4)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 02:43:36 PM EST
    the funds to close it.

    Parent
    Jim, Guantanamo Bay (5.00 / 3) (#5)
    by fishcamp on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 02:52:40 PM EST
    is a Naval base, so now is your chance to go down, and be a Naval Airman.  I'll even run you down there in my boat.  I'm sure there are funds available to move that small group without funds from Congress.

    Parent
    If you'll take him, we'll raise the money. (5.00 / 4) (#8)
    by Anne on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 02:55:42 PM EST
    There will probably be enough left over for you to take a really nice vacation - which you would completely deserve - or host a lavish TL gathering.

    Seems like a win-win to me!

    Parent

    heh (3.00 / 3) (#10)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 03:00:31 PM EST
    Anyone living in the Key West area is on permanent vacation.

    ;-)

    Parent

    I think I've finally found (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Angel on Fri Oct 10, 2014 at 04:17:53 PM EST
    our airman Jim.  

    Parent
    I can feel t