Joint Chiefs Chair: Time to Close Guantanamo

Gen. Martin Dempsey calls detention center a 'psychological scar'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 11, 2015 2:40 PM CST
Joint Chiefs Chair: Time to Close Guantanamo
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin E. Dempsey.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Count the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman among those who believe it's in the national interest to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Gen. Martin Dempsey says the facility at the US Navy base in Cuba "does create a psychological scar on our national values. Whether it should or not, it does." The US has transferred of a number of detainees recently as President Obama tries to make progress toward his goal of closing Guantanamo.

The prison's population is now 127, and Dempsey says there are "dozens" who still must be detained. He tells Fox News Sunday that's a policy decision for elected officials—what to do if these detainees shouldn't be released and Congress doesn't allow them to be brought to the United States. (More Guantanamo Bay stories.)

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