Top US officials call for closure of detention center in Cuba

WASHINGTON, June 9, CMC – After visiting the controversial Guantánamo detention center in Cuba, a top United States official and two legislators have called for its immediate closure.



“We continue to believe that it is in our national interest to end detention at Guantánamo, with a safe and orderly transition of the detainees to other locations,” said US President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and Senators Dianne Feinstein and John McCain in a brief, joint statement issued here.



“We intend to work, with a plan by Congress and the Administration together, to take the steps necessary to make that happen,” they added.



Their tour, which ended late Friday, came amid concern about the force-feeding of 41 of the 104 hunger strikers among 166 detainees at the prison camps.



Caitlin Hayden, a White House spokeswoman, said the tour was a follow-up to Obama’s speech last month in which he renewed his commitment to closing the detention center despite Congressional opposition.



Hayden said McDonough and McCain, the ranking Republican on the US Senate Armed Service Committee, and Feinstein, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, were expected to “review the situation there and discuss the steps that we can take with the Congress to meet the president’s goal of closing the facility.”



Obama said he would appoint new officials at the US State and Defense Departments to oversee efforts to reduce the population at Guantánamo by transferring some of the detainees to their home countries.



He also lifted a moratorium on sending home those from Yemen, the largest group cleared for transfer.



While McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, has been an ardent critic of some of the president’s national security policies, he has also been vocal about closing the facility.US Navy Captain Robert Durand said the visit to the prison included a briefing by the prison camps commander, Navy Rear Admiral John Smith.



The touring officials confirmed that they inspected some of the “detention facilities” and commended military personnel ffor “their dedicated service in detaining the 166 individuals here in a safe and respectful way.”



Amid the prolonged hunger strike, the US military said it plans to dispatch reinforcements and increase the guard force and other staff to 2,000 troops and civilians.