Yemen Plot the New Excuse for Not Closing Gitmo

Officials Say Detainees Won't Be Released to Yemen

Two and a half months after Obama Administration officials indicated that they were preparing to “speed up” plans to let detainees cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay actually return home, officials have a new excuse not to do so.

Fresh off of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s visit to DC, at which he pressed President Obama to release the detainees, suddenly the focus on a huge plot in Yemen has officials saying that any plans to do so are indefinitely “on hold.”

Of course in the two and a half months between then and now there was no indication that officials were actually considering any serious releases of detainees in the first place. Now they just have a new excuse.

It’s particularly noteworthy that Hadi’s visit came after the first drone strikes aimed at the plot were launched but before it went public, giving Hadi a chance to feign “pressing” the US for the detainees’ release shortly before the excuse would come to life.

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.