As I was scrolling through the New York Times website a Op-Ed piece caught my eye. This article by Andrew Rosenthal is titled, "Obama Administration Seems to Give Up on Closing Guantanamo." This really caught my attention because Obama made a widely known promise to close Guantanamo during his presidency. Not only has he NOT done this, according to Mr. Rosenthal, he has shut down the lone office in the state department that was working on "repatriating or resettling detainees held at Guantanamo.
I remember when the lawyer, David Grossman, who worked for a firm who represented detainees came to talk to our American Studies class. He discussed how it was nearly impossible for lawyers to talk to the prisoners because of how the United States workers there made the rules. And now the Obama Administration has completely closed down the one government worker who was trying to "help" the detainees. Now these people at Guantanamo Bay will have to find private lawyers to help them, which is often really costly.
I wonder if President Obama will go and do a complete reverse of some of his promises mentioned in his inauguration speech? It was only 4 years ago he promised to shut down Guantanamo Bay for good. What do you think- will President Obama keep his promises?
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