A retired Navy commander says that if the Obama administration's plan to bring Guantanamo inmates to the United States succeeds, "activist" judges could set those prisoners free on American streets.
J.D. Gordon, who worked as Pentagon spokesman from 2005 to 2009, penned an op-ed for the Hill during which he pointed out the details of the prison’s impending closure.
First, Gordon argued that the current 116 detainees--half of whom are designated with indefinite detention status and a third of whom are confirmed or believed to be returning to terrorism--could go free in the United States.
"Our courts will have the final say on whether they remain locked up, not the administration," Gordon explained. "And if other countries won’t take them, they could just walk out of jail. Detainees don’t have to escape from Supermax if judges let them out."
The former Navy commander also slammed Obama for purposely keeping costs of maintaining the Guantanamo Bay prison at lofty heights:
The White House is also misleading about Gitmo’s cost, claiming $3 million per detainee, per year. Yet they don’t mention the primary expense is 2,000 troops guarding them, providing legal services and medical care. That’s the same number deployed to handle the total of 780 detainees, so it’s deliberate overkill. Taken together with 4 catered halal meals a day, Ramadan feasts with roasted meats and imported dates, expensive exercise equipment, Wii-fits, satellite TV, etc. Obama deliberately keeps that cost high to score political talking points.
Gordon also suggested that Obama has designs on returning the military base to Cuba, saying that White House officials have "zero credibility" when they insist they will not bend to Raul Castro’s demand for the Naval Base.
"He extends olive branches to terrorists and appeases dictators for little to nothing in return, designed to usher in a new, post-U.S. superpower status era," Gordon concluded. "As America gets weaker with $1 trillion in defense cuts, our enemies get stronger."
As Obama pushes to close Guantanamo Bay before he leaves office, the Army is gearing up to cut 40,000 troops and lay off 17,000 civilian employees over the next two years.