President Obama is waging a metaphorical war to close down Guantanamo Bay, or at the very least minimize the number of prisoners kept there, despite heat he is receiving from Congress to keep the detention facility up and running.
In its heyday, Guantanamo held more than 700 detainees, but today the number is down to 166 — 100 of whom are on a hunger strike to protest the conditions at the facility and their indefinite detention there, according to a Yahoo! news report.
According to Attorney General Eric Holder, the Obama administration is reviewing various steps that it could take on its own, without Congressional approval, to lessen the population at Guantanamo. Among those steps is to send home prisoners who have long ago been cleared for transfer but for some reason or another are still being held captive, npr reports.
"Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe," Obama said during a news conference last month. "It is expensive. It is insufficient. It hurts us in terms of our international standing. It lessens co-operations with our allies on counter-terrorism efforts. It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed."
In stark contrast to Obama's vehement requests to close down the site, the Pentagon is asking Congress for millions of dollars to keep it up and running.
Among these financial requests, which would, if passed, take hold for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, Congress is asking for $79 million for detention operations, $20.5 million for the office of military commissions, $40 million for a fiber optic cable, $99 million for operation and maintenance and $200 million for military construction to upgrade the facilities, a job that is estimated to take anywhere between eight and ten years.
And with such high financial figures up in the air, Obama seems to be garnering support from lawmakers, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who says he'd like to see Guantanamo closed for a number of reasons, most of all expense.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), a top member of the House Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Obama recently, offering support in closing down Guantanamo for good.
Until the facility is closed, Smith wrote," it will continue to symbolize an unjust attempt to avoid the rule of law and to undermine the United States' moral standing in defending its values and protecting human rights."
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