President Barack Obama presented a long-shot plan to shutter Guantanamo Bay prison Tuesday, hoping to fulfil an elusive campaign promise before he leaves office next year. Describing the jail as a stain on America's reputation and a catalyst for jihadists, Obama said "I don't want to pass this problem on to the next president."
"For many years, it's been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security. It undermines it," Obama said from the Roosevelt Room. He outlined a $290-$475 million plan to move the 91 remaining detainees abroad and to one of 13 possible - unnamed - facilities in the United States. Obama has tried for almost eight years to close the jail, but has been thwarted by Congress, his own Department of Defence and some in his own party.
As a candidate and as president, Obama has argued that the detention without trial and torture of orange jumpsuit-clad suspects harms America's image and makes it less safe. "Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values," he said Tuesday. "It undermines our standing in the world."