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EDITORIAL:
Congress’
Gitmo
warning
Post
&
Courier
November
12,
2015
Congress
sent
the
president
a
military
policy
bill
Tuesday
with
an
unequivocal
message:
Do
not
transfer
any
terrorist
prisoners
from
the
Guantanamo
Naval
Base
in
Cuba
to
the
United
States.
The
House
vote
last
week
was
a
veto-proof
370-58.
The
Senate
vote,
at
91-3,
was
even
more
emphatic.
But
the
White
House
has
promised
to
keep
pushing
for
the
closure
of
the
prison
for
enemy
combatants
at
Guantanamo.
The
New
York
Times
reports
that
the
administration
is
developing
plans
to
send
53
prisoners
to
other
countries
—
and
to
house
61
of
them
in
federal
prisons
in
the
United
States
before
President
Obama
leaves
office.
Presidential
spokesman
Josh
Earnest
said
Congress
has
expressed
opposition
to
such
ideas
before
and
that
they
do
not
have
any
“material
impact”
on
administration
planning.
In
recent
weeks
the
administration
has
looked
at
the
Hanahan
Navy
Brig,
an
Army
prison
at
Fort
Leavenworth,
Kan.,
and
federal
and
state
prisons
in
Colorado
as
possible
sites
for
the
transferred
detainees.
Mr.
Earnest,
however,
said
the
president
will
ask
Congress
to
allow
him
to
close
the
base
and
transfer
its
remaining
prisoners.
But
it
is
highly
probable
that
Congress
will
reject
any
plan
for
closing
Guantanamo
the
president
puts
forward.
Indeed,
Congress
did
just
that
with
the
Senate
vote
Tuesday.
But
as
Mr.
Ernest
hinted,
that
doesn’t
end
the
matter.
Mr.
Obama
has
used
executive
orders
to
circumvent
Congress
on
a
number
of
occasions,
for
example,
changing
the
effective
date
of
some
provisions
of
the
Affordable
Care
Act
and,
most
notably,
in
proposing
a
massive
amnesty
program
for
illegal
aliens
that
has
been
suspended
by
federal
courts
in
an
ongoing
challenge
to
its
constitutionality.
Based
on
this
record,
it
would
not
be
surprising
for
the
president
to
issue
an
executive
order
closing
Guantanamo.
On
immigration
Mr.
Obama
declared
that
he
had
given
Congress
an
opportunity
to
act
and
because
it
failed
to
do
so,
he
was
changing
the
law
himself.
Sen.
Tim
Scott,
R-S.C.,
warned
of
this
possibility
in
a
statement
praising
Congress
for
banning
the
transfer
of
dangerous
terrorists
to
U.S.
prisons.
He
urged
Mr.
Obama
to
“stop
playing
politics”
over
Guantanamo
and
said,
“It
is
absolutely
mind
boggling
that
the
president
continues
to
ignore
the
will
of
the
American
people
and
overwhelming
votes
in
Congress
to
bar
the
transfer
of
these
dangerous
terrorists
to
domestic
soil.
Congress
has
acted
—
just
because
the
President
doesn’t
like
the
answer
does
not
mean
he
can
ignore
it.”
In
a
column
on
our
Commentary
page
today,
John
Barnes,
former
head
of
the
Navy
Corrections
Branch,
convincingly
details
why
moving
the
prisoners
to
the
Navy
Brig
here
would
be
a
terrible
idea.
Mr.
Obama
cannot
legally
transfer
prisoners
from
Guantanamo
to
the
United
States
over
the
opposition
of
Congress.
He
should
leave
it
to
his
successor
to
find
a
way
to
solve
the
thorny
problem
of
what
to
do
with
the
dangerous
prisoners
housed
there.
You
can
read
article here.
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