The State
Department is shuttering the office dedicated to closing the Guantanamo Bay
prison in Cuba in an apparent signal that the White House has given up for now,
The New York Times reported Monday.
The special
diplomatic envoy tasked with repatriating and resettling the detainees, Daniel
Fried, will become the State Department's coordinator for sanctions policy,
according to an internal personnel announcement obtained by the Times. His
previous responsibilities will be assumed by the office of the department's
legal adviser.
Obama during his
2008 presidential campaign promised to close the prison that became a stain on
the United States' human-rights record during President George W. Bush's
presidency, but got nowhere after lawmakers refused to transfer the detainees to
the continental United States to stand trial in criminal court. Obama threatened
to veto a one-year restriction on transferring detainees to the United States in
this year's defense authorization bill, but ended up signing it earlier this
month.
At least 166 detainees remain at the facility, Obama said in December. This month marks the 11th year the prison has been open. The Hill
Obama's
predecessor George W Bush set up the prison after the September 11, 2001,
attacks. Many detainees have been held there for years without being charged.
DPA More than four
years ago, President Obama pledged to close the Guantanamo prison, recognizing
that it symbolized the U.S. government's violation of human rights and the best
of American values in the name of "global war." Not only has President Obama
failed to close it, he has embraced two fundamental violations of human rights
that make Guantanamo a stain on the United States' credibility worldwide: unfair
trials and indefinite detention. Huffington Post It might be
President Obama's biggest broken promise: closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
ABC News In January,
2012, U.N. human rights Chief Navi Pillay said the United States was still
flouting international law at Guantanamo Bay by arbitrarily and indefinitely
detaining individuals. The Economic Times
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