Obama to close Guantanamo Bay
Updated
President Barack Obama has made closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay one of his first priorities. The president is already drafting executive orders to close Guananomo Bay in 12 months.Some reports say individual prisoner cases would be investigated, with the possibility they they be moved to US based prisons.
Presenter: Michael Edwards
Speaker: Wells Dixon, lawyer
MICHAEL EDWARDS: Closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay will be seen by many as a step forward for US foreign policy and its human rights record.
Wells Dixon is a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights which represents several Guantanamo Bay inmates.
WELLS DIXON: It's good news but the devil is really in the details. As word is leaking out from the White House today, it appears that Mr Obama is going to, certainly to close Guantanamo Bay as he promised but he has indicated that it may take up to a year, which obviously we find very problematic.
MICHAEL EDWARDS: The prison at Guantanamo Bay still holds about 245 inmates.
President Obama pledged during his election campaign to shut the facility down.
The US media has obtained a draft of President Obama's unsigned executive order which orders its closure within a year of it being signed. The draft also calls for a series of reviews on the status of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay as well as the military commissions set up to try them. The review will also investigate transferring prisoners to facilities in the United States.
Wells Dixon says it shouldn't take a year to close the prison.
WELLS DIXON: Closing Guantanamo Bay really is not very difficult. I think you have to remember it took only a few days to open the prison and we certainly think that the prison can be closed in a safe and rational way in no longer than three months.
There are some complicating factors but there are no factors that would require more than three months to resolve and ultimately to achieve closure of the base.
MICHAEL EDWARDS: One of the problems facing the Obama administration is finding countries to take the prisoners. Of those who don't face further charges in the US, most will be returned to their homes but 60 of the men can't be sent back to their own countries for fear of being tortured.
However, there are concerns that closing the prison will allow dangerous terrorists to walk free.
Wells Dixon says this won't be the case.
WELLS DIXON: There are a number of outstanding indictments right now in the United States against some of the men who are detained in Guantanamo, people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. There is certainly the ability to bring men like that to the United States and put them on trial.
MICHAEL EDWARDS: So you don't think there will be any greater threat to public safety when the camp is closed?
WELLS DIXON: Absolutely not. Guantanamo Bay has created greater danger to our country in terms of what it represents than any of the individual men who are detained there.
MICHAEL EDWARDS: Former detainees at Guantanamo Bay have welcomed the news.
Bisher al-Rawi spent five years inside the prison. He says it's time the world moved on from Guantanamo Bay.
BISHER AL-RAWI: I'd love it to be closed but really it's not just closing Guantanamo. I think it's a big problem and the problem, any problem we face, whether on an individual level or a country faces, the problem must be addressed and must be resolved. It's not a question of brushing things under the carpet. And I don't want Guantanamo to be brushed under the carpet. It must be closed; it must be closed properly.
People, they must be dealt with fairly; nothing more, just fairly. If they deserve to go to jail that's fine and if they don't then they must be released to a reasonable life. You know, they must have a reasonable chance to live their lives.
