President Obama was highly visible today, issuing a questionable National Security statementfrom the White Houses Roosevelt Roomand participating in the traditional presidential pardon of the White House turkey. CBS News’ Mark Knoller notes that the president also quietly signed theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, along with a signing statement.
As Twitchy reported, the president earlier this month said he’d announce his latest plan to close Guantanamo Bay “soon,” and a Pentagon team has scouted out possible homes for the Guantanamo Baydetainees in South Carolina, Kansas, and Colorado.
Of course, one of the first things President Obama signed as president in January 2009 was a demandthat the detention center at Gitmo be closed within one year. It’s no surprise, then, that his signing statement repeatedly states his disappointment in Congress for impeding his progress.
“I amdeeply disappointed that the Congress has again failed to take productive action toward closing the detention facility at Guantanamo,” wrote the president in his statement.“Maintaining this site, year after year, is not consistent with our interests as a Nation and undermines our standing in the world. As I have said before, the continued operation of this facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists.”
He continues:
“As I have said repeatedly, the executive branch must have the flexibility, with regard to the detainees who remain at Guantanamo, to determine when and where to prosecute them, based on the facts and circumstances of each case and our national security interests, and when and where to transfer them consistent with our national security and our humane treatment policy.”
One more thing:
We thought the administration already had a plan to defeat ISIL: eliminate global warming at the climate change summit in Paris, provide terrorists better job opportunities, and ultimately defeat them with“better ideas a more attractive, more compelling vision.” That vision will be revealed soon.
Read more: http://twitchy.com/2015/11/25/president-obama-still-demanding-flexibility-in-transferring-guantanamo-bay-detainees/
