U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. Obama
is unlikely to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in the first 100
days of his presidency, U.S. media said on Monday. (Xinhua/Reuters
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely
to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in the first 100 days of his
presidency, U.S. media said on Monday.
Analyzing Obama's interview with ABC's "This Week" on
Jan. 11, the Los Angeles Times said he acknowledged that not everything he
promised to do during the campaign would be able to happen quickly, including
the shutdown of Guantanamo.
Newsweek said in one story that the president-elect
had promised to reverse some Bush administration policies on the war on terror,
including Guantanamo, but "it may not be simple."
In a separate story, Newsweek presented the case of
Cole (a U.S. warship) bombing architect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Guantanamo
detainee, as one of the "tricky dilemmas facing the new Obama administration."
The United States opened Guantanamo prison in January
2002, to hold terror suspects and Taliban members mainly captured during the
U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
To date, about 250 prisoners are still being held
there.
The international community and human rights groups
have been constantly calling for its closure.
Obama promised to close the prison during his
presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect
Barack Obama, who pledges to close Guantanamo Bay prison camp, said on Sunday
that it is challenging to close the notorious overseas prison soon after he is
inaugurated on Jan. 20.
"I think it's going to take some time and our legal teams
are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to
help design exactly what we need to do," Obama said in an interview with ABC
News. Full story
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect
Barack Obama said on Sunday that Iran will be one of the biggest challenges that
his administration is to face.
"I think that Iran is going to be one of our biggest
challenges," he said in an interview with ABC News. Full story
