Despite the recent killing of Osama bin Laden, made possible by obtaining vital information through the use of harsh interrogation techniques in overseas prisons, Attorney General Eric Holder continued the Obama Administration's push to close Guantanamo Bay today during an official visit to Paris.
The recent killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was unlikely to affect the timing of the closure of the Guantanamo facility, Holder said.
"Although we have not closed Guantanamo within the time period that we initially indicated ... it is still the intention of the president, and it is still my intention, to close the facility that exists in Guantanamo," Holder told a joint news briefing with French Interior Minister Claude Gueant.
"We think that by closing that facility the national security of the United States will be enhanced," he added.
U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to shut down the Guantanamo Bay facility in the first year of his presidency and transfer its inmates to prisons in the United States.
Obama has said the center, set up by his predecessor George W. Bush, has helped drive recruitment for anti-American groups and that allegations of mistreatment of prisoners have hurt America's reputation.
Somehow, closing Guantanamo Bay doesn't seem like a safe option for the United States and won't enhance the national security of the country either. Holder and Obama have also refused to stop the investigations into CIA interrogators who worked under the Bush Administration.
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