Eric Holder: We aim to close Gitmo before Election Day

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

from : 9/20/11

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration is doing everything it can to shut down the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before the 2012 presidential elections.

Speaking Tuesday at the European Parliament, Holder said the administration is focused on closing the controversial facility “as quickly as possible, recognizing that we will face substantial pressure,” The Associated Press reports.

He added that the effort to shutter the detention facility would continue even after the 2012 elections if they can’t shut it down before then.

“We will be pressing for the closure of the facility between now and then — and after that election, we will try to close it as well,” Holder said. “Some people have made this a political issue without looking at, I think, the real benefits that would flow from the closure of the facility.”

The failure to keep his campaign promise of closing Guantanamo has been a headache for President Barack Obama throughout his presidency.

In December, Congress passed legislation that barred the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo to the U.S. – one method that Obama said would aide the process of closing the prison. In March, Obama said military trials could resume at the detention center, prompting some to accuse the White House of stepping further from the possibility of shutting down the facility.

Earlier this month, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan said the administration will not send any new war-on-terror prisoners to Guantanamo, saying, “It’s this administration’s policy to close Guantanamo and, despite some congressional hurdles that have been put in our path, we’re going to continue to pursue that.”

Meanwhile, Holder also reiterated on Tuesday that the United States would maintain its “fundamental break” from some harsh interrogation techniques.

“We have indicated that certain techniques that were used previously are in fact torture, and will not be engaged in again by the United States,” he said.

Human Rights First President Elisa Massimino praised the administration for demonstrating that it is “determined to make good on the promise made by President Obama on his second day in office.”

“Nobody thought closing the facility would be easy, but it never should have been a political fight,” she said, and urged the White House to “stand up to congressional and political opposition” and issue a veto threat on any legislation that threatens to keep the prison open.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63921.html#ixzz1ZbINzDOz

[Sofiyya 1,687]

45 million Americans (that they know of) out of jobs, and this is the campaign promise they're worried about keeping?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Is this the same guy that aimed NOT to give 2000 assault rifles to Mexican druglords to kill cops?

Is this the same Gitmo they planned to close by January 2010?

The one I have learned is that if Obama says he will do it...it will not happen. He is pretty much 100% on that

45 million Americans (that they know of) out of jobs, and this is the campaign promise they're worried about keeping?

Because they are trying to get back the Muslim vote after evaporating so many terrorists while playing video games in Langley, VA

[Danno 1,228]

Okay the punch-line to this story on Eric (My people) Holder was-

"“Some people have made this a political issue without looking."

Who else could he have been referring to if not his Boss?

[Leatherneck 693]

When you can't run on your sorry record...do something, anything for votes...