On January 22, 2009, newly inaugurated President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility in Cuba within one year, and then, the following summer, granted himself a six-month extension.
It’s August 2015, and as Twitchy reported, the Defense Department’s new press secretary didn’t have much to add in the way of progress. The administration still wants to close Guantanamo Bay “soon,” and the search team has so far toured just two possible sites for relocation of detainees: Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina. One small hitch there: Both states strongly oppose housing prisoners from Gitmo.
It is a slap in the face to the people of SC to put terrorists in our backyard. https://t.co/whmBpDoHCE
— Archive: Ambassador Nikki Haley (@AmbNikkiHaley) August 20, 2015
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, who earlier said the closing of Guantanamo Bay was a bad idea back in 2009 and remains a bad idea today, has pledged “any action within my power” to prevent the housing of prisoners in Kansas. Haley has joined him in signing a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
https://twitter.com/govsambrownback/status/636234200790794241
https://twitter.com/govsambrownback/status/636233644835794946
The letter reads, in part:
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South Carolina and Kansas are sovereign states with excellent military installations, and we are proud of the men and women in uniform, and their families, who sacrifice for us every single day and call our states home. We will not be part of any illegal and ill-advised action by this Administration, especially when that action relates to importing terrorists into our states. Please know that we will take any action within our power to make sure no Guantanamo Bay detainees are transferred to South Carolina or Kansas.
If not South Carolina or Kansas, then where?
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https://twitter.com/quarmby/status/634692839952228352
Related:
Team assessing Fort Leavenworth for possible Guantanamo Bay detainee transfers; ‘Not on my watch’
New Pentagon spokesman says no deadline on plan to close Gitmo: ‘This is difficult. This is hard’
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