President Obama will likely leave office failing to fulfill his promise to close the prison facility in Guantanamo Bay for good. But that doesn’t mean he’s going down without a fight. The outgoing president plans on releasing 17 or 18 of the remaining 59 Gitmo detainees before President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office in January.
The prisoner-release comes on the heels of the Berlin terror attack that has left at least 9 people dead. ISIS has already claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that the attacker was inspired by its call for jihad by any means necessary.
According to The New York Times, the terrorists and terrorist aids will be transferred to mostly Islamic Sunni Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Only a handful of prisoners will be sent to Italy.
Federal law dictates that the president must notify Congress at least 30 days before a prisoner transfer, as reported by The Blaze. The Obama administration submitted the proper paperwork for the final prisoner release before the deadline on Monday.
If all goes to plan, Obama will leave the next president with just 40 prisoners in the US-controlled naval base in Cuba. President Obama has had a difficult time shifting these prisoners around because he’s encountered several logistical complications.
At least four of the remaining prisoners have been denied entry by every other country on the planet. Nobody wants to take them in. The Pentagons considers the other 27 or so prisoners “too dangerous” to release.
President-elect Trump has given no indication that he plans on following through with Obama’s prisoner-release campaign. In fact, he’s stated flat-out that there’s still some “bad dudes” at Gitmo that need to remain in custody.