Release of Taliban detainees shows Obama has power to close Gitmo. (H.R.3304)

Obama has been pissed at congress for hindering his ability to work with detainee transfer. He issued this Signing statement at the end of last year.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/12/26/statement-president-hr-3304

Release of Taliban detainees shows Obama has power to close Gitmo

The transfer of five “high risk” Guantanamo detainees to Qatar over the weekend — members of the Taliban who the U.S. government had branded “forever detainees” — has lead one human rights organization to question why the Obama administration has not acted to transfer dozens of other detainees who have been cleared for release for many years.

Cori Crider, the strategic director for Reprieve, a U.K.-based human rights charity, said Monday that the transfer of the five inmates in exchange for P.O.W. Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. Army soldier, underscores that President Obama can move quickly to shutter Guantanamo if he has the political will to act.

“Many of these are being force-fed daily in a disgusting manner because they have been cleared so long they believe they will die in Gitmo,” Crider said. “Yet they could leave tomorrow with a stroke of Obama’s pen. Let’s hope this deal is a sign of more leadership from President Obama on letting the cleared men go home, too.”

When Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last December lawmakers gave Obama much more flexibility to transfer prisoners out of Guantanamo than they had in previous versions of the spending bill. The bill calls on the Secretary of Defense to notify Congress 30 days in advance of any transfer and outline the steps the administration has taken to ensure the detainee is not engaging in terrorist activities against the United States.

But Obama still issued a signing statement with the legislation that said Congress did not go far enough:

http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2014/6/2/release-of-talibandetaineesshowsobamahaspowertoclosegitmo.html


Shout out to ProSense for posting H.R.3304 LAST YEAR.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024237600

The real outrage from Republicans is coming from the fact that Obama just said, "Go Fuck Yourself" , but they are going to frame it any other way they can.