GitmoObama to send last Gitmo relocation plan to Congress today

Prisoner being shackled for transport at Guatanamo Bay detention center // Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Moving Guantánamo detainees to the mainland United States has been one of President Barack Obama’s main goals – and a major bone of contention with Congress. The issue has now become more pressing as the United States and Cuba are in the process of normalizing their relationships, and the Cubans want the detainees out of Gitmo as well.

Obama will be sending a plan to Congress today (Tuesday), urging lawmakers to agree to move the detainees to locations in the United States – but the plan does not name the sites in the United States to which locations the administration wants to send the remaining detainees.

Fox News reports that the list of likely sites is not secret – the navy brig at Charleston, South Carolina; the army base at Fort Leavenworth; and the U.S. Justice Department’s Supermax prison at Florence, Colorado, are among the most likely candidates.

The administration has decided not to name the sites for fear of arousing local opposition, and instead has opted to engage lawmakers in a discussion about lifting the Congressional ban on transferring Guantánamo detainees back into the United States.

Sources inside the administration concede that the likelihood of a Republican-controlled Congress agreeing to lift the ban in an election year is close to zero.

The plan to be unveiled today calls for bringing more than half of Guantánamo’s remaining detainees to the United States for continued detention, while transferring out those cleared for release.

There are 91 detainees left in Gitmo, and 56 of them would require post-Guantánamo’s detention.

The administration wants to transfer out the other 35 detainees, who have either been cleared by the military equivalent of a parole hearing, or found, by a 2010 review, not to pose a significant threat to the United States or allied interests.

Since a congressional lifting of the transfer ban is not likely, there are those in the administration who have urged the president to relocate the detainees by using an executive order.

The Pentagon, however, said it would prefer a congressional action.

Sources familiar with the plan say the administration would try to persuade lawmakers by arguing that closing Gitmo would result inconsiderable savings.