While publicly demonstrating intentions to shut down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Republican and Democratic US presidents alike kept the notorious prison running for two decades, Moazzam Begg told RT.
Begg is one of hundreds of men who went through the military prison created by the George W Bush administration in January 2002 to keep captives of his global ‘War on Terror’ incarcerated. The British citizen was released after spending three years behind bars without trial and became an advocate for others locked up in Gitmo.
Despite all known abuses and legal questions associated with it, Guantanamo managed to exist for two decades. This fact shows the entrenched dedication of the US under subsequent presidents to its survival, he told RT.
Bush said he wanted to close his creation and in fact it was under his administration that most of the prisoners in Guantanamo were released. Barack Obama pledged to shut it down and in January 2009 issued an executive order to do so, but after his two terms the facility was still operational. Trump contrasted both in stating his intention to keep it running.