© Jonathan Ernst / ReutersProtesters in orange jumpsuits from Amnesty International USA and other organizations rally outside the White House to demand the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, in Washington January 11, 2016.
President Obama's final year in office marks the Guantanamo Bay detention facility's 15th year in operation. RT interviewed David Remes, a lawyer who has advised over a dozen Gitmo inmates, about the rising stakes facing the remaining prisoners there.
Remes, who left a lucrative position in corporate law in 2008 to pursue his newfound passion for defending human rights, told RT anchor Lindsay France that the chances of the prison camp being closed by the end of Obama's term were slim to none.
"Of course, if a Republican becomes president, there is, I'd say, no hope that Guantanamo will be closed as a detention facility, so Obama's plan is to transfer as many cleared detainees as he can," Remes said. "That is, detainees who are approved for transfer, and to review as many uncleared detainees as possible, so that he can transfer those cleared detainees, also, abroad."
"Those he can't transfer, or doesn't want to transfer, he wants to bring to the United States," a move which Remes called" moving Guantanamo, not closing it." Remes lamented that this idea was only "removing the symbol," but "not removing what it symbolizes."
Comment: Obviously nothing has changed in the US. Extreme cruelty and violence are hallmarks of the American government, which has been completely overtaken by psychopaths who have so infused the culture with their twisted values that the majority of Americans approve torture.