Pentagon seeking replacement for Guantanamo prison
Evaluation teams by the Pentagon have been sent to various federal and military detention facilities around the US to find a possible replacement for the notorious US military prison of Guantanamo in Cuba.
One team is set to visit the US Naval Consolidated Brig in Hanahan, South Carolina during the next week to see if it is a viable option to transfer some of the 116 suspects that are still held at Guantanamo and possibly stage military tribunals for them.
Last week, another six-member team visited the US Disciplinary Barracks, a correctional facility in Kansas which is also the only maximum-security military prison on the American soil.
According to Pentagon officials, these teams would estimate the cost of holding detainees at prisons in Kansas and South Carolina, building housing for military police and other staff, as well as special courts.
The recent push to close down the controversial prison falls in line with President Barack Obama’s call on Congress to remove restrictions that ban transferring detainees. Obama plans to designate a US site where military commissions can prosecute the inmates.
"Individuals from across the political spectrum have recognized that this facility should be closed, and we look forward to working with the House and the Senate to move toward closure," Commander Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Monday.
Senior Kansas and South Carolina lawmakers have been fiercely opposing the idea of transferring the detainees to their states, and opposition in the GOP-led Congress appears to be overwhelming.
Obama first tried to close Guantanamo in 2009, but Congress has repeatedly thwarted his efforts ever since by withholding money for transfers or releases.
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