Obama: Guantánamo camps a waste of resources [View all]
Source: Miami Herald
Obama: Guantánamo camps a waste of resources
Published: January 4, 2013
By CAROL ROSENBERG — The Miami Herald
President Barack Obama late Tuesday signed a $633 billion defense bill that continues to block his ability to close the prison camps at Guantanamo, Cuba, then in a separate signing statement issued Wednesday called the prison camps a waste of national security resources.
"I continue to believe that operating the facility weakens our national security by wasting resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and strengthening our enemies," Obama said in a statement released by the White House Wednesday morning.
While the president has bristled at the restrictions in past signing statements, this time he highlighted the expense, and it comes immediately after the hot debate over the fiscal cliff.
The White House had threatened to veto the Pentagon's spending bill because of a number of concerns, including limits on his authority to transfer terror suspects from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As of Wednesday, the Pentagon held 166 detainees at Guantanamo -- at least 55 of whom are cleared for release -- but just nine of them on trial or convicted of crimes.
Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2013/01/04/4338189/obama-guantanamo-camps-a-waste.html#storylink=cpy
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