Statement on President’s Order to Close Guantanamo

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 22, 2009 – Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) released the following statement regarding President Obama’s decision to sign an order to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility in Cuba. 

“I am greatly encouraged with President Obama’s decision to close this un-American symbol of injustice. A substantial majority of the people detained there could never be charged with a crime because they had committed none. The Bush-Cheney Administration kept this prison open in order to mask their rush to judgment; detaining people primarily who had been handed over in return for bounties without evidence of hostile actions against the U.S.

“The details of where to relocate prisoners may be difficult, but they are not insurmountable. We have now sent a signal to the world that indefinite detention, that torture, that neglect of America’s underlying values and principles will no longer characterize our response to the threat of extremism.

“President Obama has kept his word by letting the rest of the world know that America is determined to once again be the moral guidepost that our Founding Fathers intended.”
 

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