Guantánamo ‘war on terror’ camp is a big stain on Obama’s record

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/31/guantanamo-stain-obama-record

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Since Barack Obama became US president he has dramaticallyshifted the direction of US foreign policy. He ended the US occupation in Iraq, began the drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan and moved the nation away from the unilateralism of the Bush administration to a more liberal, internationalist approach to foreign affairs.

Related: The story behind the five-year delay in freeing Shaker Aamer from Guantánamo

However, a significant black mark remains on his foreign policy record – the US detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, which is still open. Barring an unlikely change of heart on Capitol Hill, it is likely to stay that way, even after Obama leaves office. The saga of Guantánamo and the inability of Obama to shut it down is an unfortunate reminder that the “war on terror” still plays a disproportionate role in the American imagination.

More than six and a half years ago, on his second day in office, Obama signed an executive order to close Guantánamo. This had been a key campaign promise during his run for office. At the time, both Democrats and Republicans supported closing the facility, most recognising that Guantánamo served as a recruiting boon for al-Qaida.

But Obama’s move soon ran into the politics of terrorism and the Republicans’ commitment to oppose him at every turn. What made the “Gitmo” issue even more difficult, however, was that Democrats went along with it, surprised it seems by the realisation that closing Guantánamo meant bringing suspected al-Qaida terrorists to the United States.

It didn’t matter much that these detainees would be in maximum-security prisons, or that some had even been tried in US civilian courts; they were terrorists and thus could not be allowed on American soil.

Obama has sought instead to transfer as many of the detainees as possible to their home countries, but the process is laborious, largely because of the fears of recidivism. As a result, there are still112 left, many of whom cannot be sent elsewhere and will either need to be tried or detained in the US.

In recent weeks, Obama has raised the ante with Congress. After years of threatening to veto the National Defence Authorisation Act over the transfer restrictions on Guantánamo detainees, Obama finally acted earlier this month, sparking a potential showdown with Congress.

Some reforms are possible – such as allowing detainees to come to the US for trial and allowing temporary transfers for medical treatment. But Obama is unlikely to get a blanket change in current policy. The politics of anti-terrorism and the remaining fear of al-Qaida – even though there hasn’t been a major terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11 – are too pervasive.

For all of Obama’s efforts to move the nation away from the mindset that led to the disaster in Iraq, some habits, it seems, are hard to break.

So when Obama leaves office in January 2017, the black mark of Guantánamo will remain – but it will be a stain not on the outgoing president’s legacy, but rather on that of the US and its war on terrorism.