Obama makes last attempt to persuade Congress to close Guantanamo

HIGH COST

A US Army soldier closes the gate at maximum security prison Camp Delta at Guantanamo Naval Base in Guantanamo, Cuba in this August 25, 2004 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

The plan would send detainees who have been cleared for transfer to their homelands or third countries and transfer remaining prisoners to US soil to be held in maximum-security prisons. Congress has banned such transfers to the United States since 2011.

Though the Pentagon has previously noted some of the sites it surveyed for use as potential US facilities, the administration wants to avoid fueling any political outcry in important swing states before the Nov 8 presidential election.

Republican Senator John McCain, Obama's 2008 presidential opponent and an advocate of closing the prison, scoffed at the plan as not being focused. "Thirteen different possible sites. That's a recommendation?" he said.

The White House has sought to buttress its argument for closing the prison by focusing on its high cost. Obama said nearly $450 million was spent last year alone to keep it running. The new plan would be cheaper, officials said.

The transfer and closure costs would be $290 million to $475 million, an administration official told reporters, while housing remaining detainees in the United States would be $65 million to $85 million less expensive than at the Cuba facility, meaning the transfer bill would be offset in 3 to 5 years.

The administration hopes sending the plan to Congress will spur lawmakers to help choose a facility they find amenable, but the White House is well aware the plan may not move at all.

"I am very clear-eyed about the hurdles to finally closing Guantanamo. The politics of this are tough," Obama said.

"Part of my message to the American people here is we're already holding a bunch of really dangerous terrorists here in the United States ... and there have been no incidents. We've managed it just fine."

The Guantanamo facility, which Obama said once held nearly 800 people, now houses 91 detainees. Some 35 prisoners will be transferred to other countries in the coming months, bringing the final number below 60, officials said.

More prisoners could be transferred other countries as well, potentially lowering that number further. Obama said military commissions would continue to be used to try some of the prisoners, but he said that process also required reform.

Obama noted that his predecessor, Republican President George W. Bush, transferred hundreds of prisoners out of Guantanamo and wanted it closed.