“I think it is a mistake for Obama to make it [Guantanamo closure] a political discussion, he is the commander-in-chief of our armed forces and he should work with the people in the military to come up with a strategy that makes the best sense,” McConnell, former US Assistant Secretary of Energy, said. “It is just not intelligent leadership to make military issues political.”
During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama called on Congress to finish the job of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba, adding that he will not relent in his determination to shut down the prison.
“At the end of the day if he [Obama] works with the military men and comes up with the solution that is best for our country, then as a citizen I would support that decision whatever it is, but do not make it a political decision,” McConnell explained.
Obama made a mistake of politicizing Guantanamo Bay detention facility closure when he first ran for presidency back in 2008, and he is making the same mistake now, the former assistant secretary explained.
“It is bad business to declare what your military strategy in six months before you implement your strategy. It disarms your military’s ability to tactically advance the cause. And that is why I am very opposed when we politicize military strategy, it is a big mistake, it should not be done,” McConnell said.
Talking about possible Guantanamo closure, McConnell said that often the reality is different from what President Obama is portraying in his public speeches.
“Often when he [Obama] speaks, he speaks about what he would imagine to be the world that we would like to live in, and the difference is that it is not exactly the reality of where we are today. There is the reality, and then there is wishing and hoping, and that is the problem sometimes,” he concluded.
The Guantanamo Bay detention facility was opened in 2002 in the wake of 9/11 terror attacks on the United States. Since then, the prison has been repeatedly criticized by human rights advocates citing inhumane conditions of confinement, including torture.
In 2009, Obama issued an executive order to review the status of all individuals imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and to shut down the prison. The number of detainees has nearly been cut in half since 2009 but the facility is still open, with 122 detainees remaining imprisoned at Guantanamo.
