User:Ccastillo23!/sandbox

Background

Challenges

Executive order 13492 signed on January 22nd, 2009 is the review and disposition of individuals detained at the Guantanamo Bay naval base and closure of detention facilities. This executive order was a result of growing concerns by the American people and governments abroad that America was practicing inhumane behavior against detainees and prisoners of war. This behavior could not be practiced for it violated the third Geneva Convention which was adopted in 1929 but significantly revised at the 1949 conference following the end of the second world war.

After Barack Obama signed executive order 13492 the shutdown of Guantanamo Bay in 2009 was almost inevitable, given that the pressure from "nongovernmental organizations such as the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and even some American allies called to close the facility. However, after President Obama signed Executive order 13492 on January 22, 2009, the administration realized that their timeline of closing the facility within the one year promised timeline would not be feasible. The detention facility could not be shut down given that most of the detainees did not have proper paperwork and many had never been tried. After the administration realized that that lack of paperwork and other needed evidence was missing, the process of shutting down Guantanamo Bay was stopped. Furthermore, the prevention of closing the facility made the process of transferring detainees almost impossible. On December of 2009, President Obama issued a memorandum directing the secretary of Defense and the Attorney general to make arrangements so that detainees at Guantanamo bay be transferred to prisons and facilities inside of the USA to finally finish with the closing of the Guantanamo Bay U.S naval base and prison. The majority of the prisoners were to be transferred to the Illinois Thomas Correctional Center; however, because of the resistance among congress and the growing idea among citizens, that terrorists were coming into the country, the closing of Guantanamo Bay was delayed even further. Moreover, two years after the failure of trying to transfer detainees to the mainland, congress exercised, in the 2011 Defense Authorization Bill, the lack of funds to be available to make the transition project, to bring all Guantanamo bay detainees to the mainland. As of June 2011, over 100 detainees remain in custody in Guantanamo Bay and as of 2018, the facility remains open.

Conservative and liberal reaction

Conservative Reaction

National Review

In 2015, conservative editorial magazine, National Review, reported Barack Obama’s first official action, Executive Order 13492, during his first one-hundred days as the President of the United Sates. The reaction was criticism and National Review considered the act an “apology policy" for Western Imperialism that was “very few and recent” in U.S and American crimes were only being emphasized by the leftists. National News compared Obama’s official executive order 13492 to be too optimistic as Obama believes is  “consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice”. National News ended the statement of Obama’s executive order 13492 and the democratic party as inflicting harm on the War on terrorism by closing Guantanamo bay.

Fox News

According to Fox News, President Donald Trump’s stated during his campaign his disapproval of the Executive Order 13492 to close down the military prison Guantanamo Bay. The prison consist of detainees who have committed national crimes such as terrorism and any other crime against the United States. However, Fox News response to Trumps statement "..in the past we have foolishly release... hundreds of dangerous terrorists..including ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, who we captured, who we had, who we released..." was the of lack of detainees he has sent or detained in the facility. Fox quotes that keeping Guantanamo open is "politically expedient but exceedingly stupid..." because Bush and Obama have altogether left 41 detainees at the Guantanamo when during the Bush administration it had reached its maximum of 630 detainees. Fox News main concern is the lack of detainees in the prison.

Liberal Reaction

Vox News

Vox News stated that on January 1, 2018 President Donald Trump announced the keeping of the Military Prison of Guantanamo Bay, overriding Obama’s 2008 campaign promise of completely closing the prison down within a year. Furthermore according to Vox News, President Obama failed to effectively enact Executive Order 13492 during his 8 year term because U.S Congress added restrictions on detainees on moving the prisoners back to the U.S. with trails or detentions. Therefore, on January of 2018 Trump was successful in reopening Guantanamo Bay prison, however the administration has yet still not specified under his new policy, what prisoners would be kept in prison other than stating Trump would "...load it up with some bad dudes...” and would detained prisoners associated with Taliban and Al-Qaeda as well as forces who are a threat to " the United States or its coalitions". Vox news believes that under the vague criteria, non-traditional or any prisoner can now be held at the Guantanamo prison which is already famous for its charging of informal charges as well as abusing the human rights of detainees.