In Confidential Memo, Hillary Clinton Urged Obama To Close Gitmo [View all]

[riversedge]

Source: HuffingtonPost



In Confidential Memo, Hillary Clinton Urged Obama To Close Gitmo
"We must signal to our old and emerging allies alike that we remain serious about turning the page of GTMO and the practices of the prior decade."

Ryan J. Reilly


Posted: 11/29/2015 05:59 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- Weeks before she stepped down as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton wrote a memo urging President Barack Obama to step up his administration's efforts to close the military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay in his second term. In the confidential January 2013 memo obtained by The Huffington Post, Clinton told Obama she worried that support for closing Guantanamo would further erode unless the administration took action.

"We must signal to our old and emerging allies alike that we remain serious about turning the page of GTMO and the practices of the prior decade," Clinton wrote in the document, using the military abbreviation for the U.S. naval base. "The revitalization of transfers, efforts to prosecute some detainees in federal courts, a longer-term approach to the return of Yemeni detainees, and credible periodic reviews would send the signal and renew a credible detention policy."

She also encouraged Obama to consider moving Guantanamo detainees into the country. "If the law permits, I recommend that you consider transfers to the United States for pre-trial detention, trial, and sentences," Clinton wrote.

The memo laid out three steps Obama should take in the wake of renewed restrictions that Congress placed on the president's ability to transfer detainees from the Guantanamo Bay facility. One of Clinton's key suggestions was for Obama to appoint a senior White House official to "lead all GTMO efforts," stating that an "impasse" on detainee transfers would continue without centralized leadership. Clinton said restrictions had "effectively prevented any transfers" and said the Pentagon and other agencies had been "wary" of certifying that a number of security conditions were in place and allowing transfers to move forward. "We need a White House lead," Clinton wrote.
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Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-guantanamo-memo_5654cc40e4b0258edb33537b

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Pres. Obama has been trying his best to do this.