International News

Gitmo: Obama laments he wasn’t able to close ‘the darn thing’

WASHINGTON, (MILLAT+APP/AFP) – US President Barack Obama
expressed regret Monday that he hadn’t been able to shut down the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay during his eight years in office.
In his first news conference since Republican tycoon Donald Trump was
elected to succeed him, Obama blamed the GOP-controlled Congress for his
failure to “close the darn thing.”
Under Obama, who in 2008 promised to close the jail in his first
months in office, the number of suspected militants held there has been reduced to 60.
But Congress refused to permit a group of prisoners still thought to
pose a threat to US soil to leave the US naval base in Cuba, and it proved difficult to find countries to host other inmates held without charge.