It’s all Bush’s fault.
Obama blames Gitmo for the creation of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
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The BBC reported, via Free Republic:
US President Barack Obama has said a Yemen-linked plot to bomb an airliner will not prevent the closure of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The US has suspended the repatriation of Yemeni prisoners held there in the wake of the plot, claimed by a Yemen-based al-Qaeda offshoot.
Nearly half of those remaining at the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are from Yemen…
“It was always our intent to transfer detainees to other countries only under conditions that provide assurances that our security is being protected,” Mr Obama said on Tuesday, during a briefing on security reviews ordered after the airliner plot.
“With respect to Yemen in particular, there’s an ongoing security situation which we have been confronting for some time, along with our Yemeni partner.”
But Mr Obama said the camp would still be shut, “in a manner that keeps the American people safe and secure”.
“Make no mistake, we will close Guantanamo prison, which has damaged our national security interests and become a tremendous recruiting tool for al-Qaeda,” he said.
“In fact, that was an explicit rationale for the formation of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.“
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula first came to prominence in Saudi Arabia in May 2003. There is absolutely no proof that Gitmo had anything to do with the group’s formation. The first operational leader of AQAP was killed in June 2003.
