WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama’s proposal to close the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer most of the remaining detainees to U.S. soil was met with strong condemnation Tuesday from Colorado’s congressional representatives, who voiced particular umbrage at his plan to consider prisons within Colorado as a potential destination for the prisoners.
The long-awaited proposal, which was requested by Congress, is Obama’s last attempt to make good on an unfulfilled campaign promise by persuading Congress to change the law that prohibits moving detainees accused of violent extremist acts to U.S. soil. Fourteen years after the facility opened and seven years after Obama took office, the president argued it was “finally” time to shutter a facility that has sparked persistent legal battles, become a recruitment tool for Islamic militants and garnered strong opposition from some allies abroad.
“I don’t want to pass this problem onto the next president, whoever it is,” Obama said Tuesday at the White House. “If we don’t do what’s required now, I think future generations are going to look back and ask why we failed to act when the right course, the right side of history, and justice and our best American traditions was clear.”
Roughly 35 of the 91 detainees will be transferred to other countries in the coming months, leaving up to 60 detainees who are either facing trial by military commission or have been determined to be too dangerous to release but are not facing charges. Under the plan, those detainees would be relocated to a U.S. facility that could cost up to $475 million to build, but would ultimately be offset by as much as $180 million per year in operating cost savings. The annual operating cost for Guantanamo is $445 million. The U.S. facilities would cost between $265 million and $305 million to operate each year, according to the proposal.
The plan considers, but does not name, 13 locations in the U.S., including seven prison facilities in Colorado, South Carolina and Kansas, as well as six other locations at correctional facilities on state, federal or military sites in several states. It also notes that there could be all new construction on military bases. The plan doesn’t recommend a preferred site.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said the longtime detention facility should be closed, but took a stand against the efforts to move detainees to federal prisons, particularly within Colorado.
“I’ve repeatedly said I do not support the transfer of prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military facility to Colorado,” Bennet said. “I’ve voted to close the prison, but I believe military detainees should be held in military prisons. Colorado does not have that type of facility. This plan has done nothing to change my mind.”
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., also had harsh words about the plan and voiced his concerns about the legality of the president’s proposal. In separate statements, Gardner and Bennet cited existing amendments and legislation signed by the president that prevent the proposed transfer of detainees to the United States.
“Regardless of today’s futile proposal, transferring detainees to the U.S. is illegal, and it’s rejected by Coloradans, top Colorado law enforcement officials and Americans across the country,” Gardner said. “Today’s proposal only signals that the president may be willing to once again circumvent Congress and ignore the very law he approved in order to fulfill his campaign promises. This represents a grave threat to Colorado and our national security, and I will take any and all action as a United States senator to ensure Guantanamo Bay detainees remain in Cuba and out of Colorado.”
Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, called the plan “about as thoughtful as something drawn last minute on the back of a napkin.” He joined his Senate colleagues in calling the proposed move illegal.
“I’d say he needs to go back to the drawing board, but that would be working under the assumption that there is something viable in the proposal that can be improved on, which there is not,” Tipton said.
egraham@durangoherald.com. Edward Graham is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald. The Associated Press contributed to this article.
