Oman says it accepts 10 Guantanamo Bay inmates at US request
There was no immediate word from the U.S. Defense Department about the transfer.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Oman News Agency that it had accepted the prisoners at Obama’s request. It did not name the prisoners.
Omani and U.S. military officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The sultanate of Oman, on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, previously accepted 10 Guantanamo prisoners from Yemen in January 2016. Oman also took another six in June 2015. Meanwhile, Oman’s neighbor Saudi Arabia took four prisoners on Jan. 5 and the United Arab Emirates took 15 prisoners in the largest-single transfer during Obama’s administration on Aug. 15.
Oman, ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said since 1970, has served as an interlocutor between the West and Iran. It also has negotiated a number of prisoner releases in recent years for Western countries.
Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, remains in the grips of a civil war and a Saudi-led military offensive against the rebels — making returning Guantanamo inmates there impossible.
Days earlier, authorities said 19 of the remaining 55 prisoners at the U.S. military base in Cuba were cleared for release and could be freed in the final days of Obama’s presidency.
It was part of an effort by Obama to shrink the prison since he couldn’t close it.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said during his campaign that he not only wants to keep Guantanamo open but “load it up with some bad dudes.”
The U.S. began using its military base on southeast Cuba’s isolated, rocky coast to hold prisoners captured during the Afghanistan invasion, bringing the first planeload on Jan. 11, 2002, and reaching a peak 18 months later of nearly 680.
There were 242 prisoners when Obama took office in 2009, pledging to close what became a source of international criticism over the mistreatment of detainees and the notion of holding people indefinitely, most without charge.
Obama was unable to close Guantanamo because of Congressional opposition to holding any of the men in the United States. That ultimately became a ban on transferring them to U.S. soil for any reason, including trial, making the failure to close the detention center part of his legacy.
The majority of Guantanamo prisoners released have been sent to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
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Report: Pres. Obama plans to release more Gitmo prisoners before he leaves office next month
Outgoing President Barack Obama plans to release and
transfer 17 or 18 of the remaining 59 prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay
prison in Cuba before leaving office next month, according to the New York Times.
The Times reports that the prisoners are set to be released to Italy, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
By law, the Pentagon must notify Congress 30 days before a prisoner transfer, so the deadline for transferring prisoners under Obama’s watch was Monday. And according to the Times, Obama already had his plan set in motion.
More from the Times:
The other four or five men include at least three from countries with strong ties to radical Islam and another “whom no country offered a home,” the Times reports.
According to the Times, all have been at the prison for 15 years and all are on the prisoner transfer list.
Obama promised during his campaign for president in 2008 and 2012 that he would ensure that Guantanamo Bay would be closed as president, though that never actually panned out. He has, however, released dozens and dozens of prisoners, many of which have found their way back into terrorism operations.
Trump, on the other hand, said throughout his campaign for president that he would keep Guantanamo Bay open under his watch, loading it up with “some bad dudes.”
The Times reports that the prisoners are set to be released to Italy, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
By law, the Pentagon must notify Congress 30 days before a prisoner transfer, so the deadline for transferring prisoners under Obama’s watch was Monday. And according to the Times, Obama already had his plan set in motion.
More from the Times:
The Bush administration brought about 780 men to Guantánamo after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, saying that it could hold Qaeda suspects there in indefinite wartime detention without trial — a move that the Supreme Court eventually approved — and that it could disregard the Geneva Conventions in how it treated them, which the court rejected.If Obama’s request to release and transfer the prisoners gets approved, then President-elect Donald Trump will be left with 41 or 42 prisoners, 10 of whom were charged or convicted in military commissions and at least another 27 who are deemed too “dangerous” to release.
President George W. Bush started trying to close the prison in his second term and bequeathed 242 detainees to Mr. Obama.
The other four or five men include at least three from countries with strong ties to radical Islam and another “whom no country offered a home,” the Times reports.
According to the Times, all have been at the prison for 15 years and all are on the prisoner transfer list.
Obama promised during his campaign for president in 2008 and 2012 that he would ensure that Guantanamo Bay would be closed as president, though that never actually panned out. He has, however, released dozens and dozens of prisoners, many of which have found their way back into terrorism operations.
Trump, on the other hand, said throughout his campaign for president that he would keep Guantanamo Bay open under his watch, loading it up with “some bad dudes.”
Sgt. Bergdahl prisoner exchange: Obama broke law releasing terrorists
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liberalism + Socialism = Terrorism
Obama: U.S. Takes Veterans Affairs Neglect Claim ‘Very Seriously’
Originally Posted: Huffington Post
Posted:
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. will get to the bottom of whether veterans were denied help they needed at a VA hospital in Arizona.
Obama says he immediately ordered Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to investigate following allegations that up to 40 Arizona veterans died while awaiting medical appointments at the Phoenix VA Health Care Center.
Obama says he takes the allegations, quote, “very seriously.” He says an inspector general is also investigating.
Obama says he wants to ensure not a single U.S. veteran lacks the help they need. He says he’s increased the VA’s budget more than any other agency in his government.
Obama spoke at a news conference in Manila while traveling in the Philippines.
Posted:
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. will get to the bottom of whether veterans were denied help they needed at a VA hospital in Arizona.
Obama says he immediately ordered Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to investigate following allegations that up to 40 Arizona veterans died while awaiting medical appointments at the Phoenix VA Health Care Center.
Obama says he takes the allegations, quote, “very seriously.” He says an inspector general is also investigating.
Obama says he wants to ensure not a single U.S. veteran lacks the help they need. He says he’s increased the VA’s budget more than any other agency in his government.
Obama spoke at a news conference in Manila while traveling in the Philippines.
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