Biden wants to close Guantanamo Bay prison

Unfulfilled promise from Obama’s term

FILE--UNITED STATES MARINES WHO SERVE AS THE SECURITY FORCE FOR THE U.S. NAVAL BASE AT GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA STOP IN FRONT OF THE NORTH EAST GATE WITH THE CUBAN GATE IN THE BACKGROUND IN THIS JAN. 15, 1998 FILE PHOTO. THE SIGN OVER THE CUBAN GATE READS: "REPUBLIC OF CUBA, FREE TERRITORY IN AMERICA." DEFENSE SECRETARY DONALD H. RUMSFELD SAID THURSDAY, DEC. 27, 2001 THAT THE U.S. MILITARY WILL HOLD TALIBAN AND AL-QAIDA DETAINEES AT THE NAVY BASE IN CUBA, BUT HAS NO PLANS TO USE IT AS A SITE FOR MILITARY TRIBUNALS. (AP PHOTO/HANS DERYK)

U.S. President Joe Biden wants to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects before the end of his term, the White House said on Friday, echoing an unfulfilled campaign promise from Barack Obama’s administration.

Asked at a press conference about a possible closure of the prison in Cuba during Mr. Biden’s tenure, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “That certainly is our goal and our intention.”

She said the administration was working through the National Security Council to “assess the current state of play that the Biden administration has — well, we've inherited from the previous administration”.

In his 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump expressed willingness to keep the Guantanamo prison open and “fill it with bad guys”. The Republican retained this position once elected. However, some detainees were promised their release from Guantanamo under his Democratic predecessor Obama, but he never succeeded in working out a compromise with Congress. Mr. Biden was Obama’s Vice-President.

The military prison accommodates inmates linked to the U.S. “war on terror”, including Pakistani Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks.