Obama govt not pursuing executive order to shut Guantanamo

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is not pursuing the use of an executive order to shutter the Guantanamo Bay after officials concluded that it would not be a

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is not pursuing the use of an executive order to shutter the Guantanamo Bay after officials concluded that it would not be a viable strategy, sources familiar with deliberations said.

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The conclusion, reached by administration officials, narrows the already slim chances that President Barack Obama can fulfil his pledge to close the notorious offshore prison before leaving office in January. The White House has said repeatedly that Obama has not ruled out any options on the Guantanamo center, which has been used to house terrorism suspects since it was set up in 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Obama is eager to fulfil his 2008 campaign pledge to close the prison and could still choose to use his commander-in-chief powers, but the option is not being actively pursued, the sources said.

Without executive action, the chances of closing the prison would hinge on convincing a resistant Congress to overturn a long-standing ban on bringing possibly dozens of remaining prisoners to maximum-security prisons in the United States. White House lawyers and other officials studied the option of overriding the ban but did not develop a strong legal position or an effective political sales pitch in an election year, a source familiar with the discussions said.