Obama’s failure of leadership on Gitmo

August 20, 2015
Al Jazeera America

On Aug. 14, the Department of Justice (DOJ) blocked the release from the Guantánamo Bay prison of Tariq Ba Odah, a gravely ill detainee who was cleared for transfer by the Guantánamo Review Task Force, which was created by an executive order in 2009. On a hunger strike for the past eight years and kept alive by brutal force-feedings, he now weighs less than 75 pounds and is reportedly near death. Ba Odah, a Yemeni national, has spent nearly a third of his life at the facility but has never been charged with a crime.

The opposition to his release contradicts President Barack Obama’s professed determination to close the facility before leaving office. It also calls into question the validity administration’s interagency strategy for closing the prison and the argument that Congress is solely responsible for the continued detention of the remaining 116 inmates there, including the 52 who have been cleared for transfer. ...

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Last modified 

August 21, 2015