Obama Drafts Order to Close Gitmo

Executive Order Would Halt Trials, Close Detention Center in a Year

President Obama will reportedly sign a new executive order calling for the detention center at Guantanamo Bay to be closed within a year, and will also halt the war crimes trials in the meantime. It remains unclear when he will sign the draft, however.

The draft says the closure will “further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States,” and calls for a review to determine which detainees will be released and which will continue to be detained. Ideally, it intends to prosecute those not released, but exactly how that will happen remains to be seen.

Obama earlier requested that the military judges suspend the current war crimes trials for 120 days. The trials have been controversial for their questionable legal standards, and the president made his promise to close the facility one of his central campaign promises.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.