The US’ desire to close its military prison in Cuba remains “unabashed” even though a deadline set by Washington to do so has passed, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday in Toledo, Spain.
US President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Jan. 22 last year — two days after he took office — promising to close the US military prison in southern Cuba within the first year of his mandate.
“The plan is to still work for closure,” Napolitano told a news conference in Toledo when asked about the passing of the deadline.
“We have known for some time now that it was not going to be met because assembling the information about the detainees and moving them out of Guantanamo is very difficult and we have to do it in the right way,” she added.
“We have had cooperation from many countries, in Europe and other continents, but it takes time to do it in the right way. That is the intent we will continue to [move] in that direction, if it takes longer, it takes longer,” she said.
“The goal and the intent remain the same and the will to do so is unabashed,” Napolitano said.
Some 196 detainees remain at prison, including dozens already cleared for release, down from around 250 when Obama took office. Most have been held without charge or trial.
The prison is widely seen as a symbol of abuses carried out in the name of Washington’s war on al-Qaeda and other extremists.
But a Gallup poll published in November found almost two-thirds of those questioned were opposed to the detention center closing and to prisoners being brought to the US.
Napolitano was in Toledo to take part in a informal meeting of interior and justice ministers from the 27-nation EU.
In related news, at least 80 Guantanamo detainees will be brought to the US to face trial, military commissions or continued imprisonment without charge under recommendations from a presidential task force, two US government officials said yesterday.
The two officials said that a task force had recommended 35 detainees for prosecution. Attorney General Eric Holder has already decided that five of those will be tried in New York federal court for their alleged roles in the 2001 terror attacks.
Another six have been chosen to face military commissions. A venue for those commissions has not been decided, but the most likely place is a planned Illinois prison facility to house terrorism-era detainees. The Obama administration still needs money from Congress to renovate that facility.
As part of Obama’s plan to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, the task force has recommended 47 detainees be held indefinitely without charge. Another 17 detainees who are Yemenis are likely to be held for some time to come, until US counter-terrorism officials can find a secure place in their home country or other foreign countries to send them, the officials said.
They also said that a total of about 110 detainees have been approved for transfer.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the findings of the task force.
The new figures were first reported in Friday’s edition of the Washington Post.
The group’s conclusions are not binding, and could be changed by the National Security Council.
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