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Senate eases path for sending more Guantanamo detainees home
Source: Reuters
Senate eases path for sending more Guantanamo detainees home
BY MATT SPETALNICK
WASHINGTON Fri Dec 20, 2013 12:12am EST
(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate eased the way on Thursday for President Barack Obama to speed up the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to their home countries, a crucial step toward the long-delayed closure of the military prison.
Under a bipartisan deal tucked inside a broader defense spending bill that received final congressional approval, lawmakers loosened some restrictions on Obama's ability to send more of the 158 remaining inmates home after years of detention without trial at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba.
Obama will still face major obstacles to shutting Guantanamo. But he will be in a better position than before to take steps to reduce the detainee population at the facility, which has long been the object of international condemnation.
"While the bill does not address all of the administration's concerns, its provisions ... will provide the administration additional flexibility to transfer detainees abroad consistent with our national security interests," White House spokesman Jay Carney said earlier on Thursday.
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BY MATT SPETALNICK
WASHINGTON Fri Dec 20, 2013 12:12am EST
(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate eased the way on Thursday for President Barack Obama to speed up the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to their home countries, a crucial step toward the long-delayed closure of the military prison.
Under a bipartisan deal tucked inside a broader defense spending bill that received final congressional approval, lawmakers loosened some restrictions on Obama's ability to send more of the 158 remaining inmates home after years of detention without trial at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba.
Obama will still face major obstacles to shutting Guantanamo. But he will be in a better position than before to take steps to reduce the detainee population at the facility, which has long been the object of international condemnation.
"While the bill does not address all of the administration's concerns, its provisions ... will provide the administration additional flexibility to transfer detainees abroad consistent with our national security interests," White House spokesman Jay Carney said earlier on Thursday.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/20/us-usa-guantanamo-idUSBRE9BJ02720131220