WASHINGTON
The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the U.S. military site in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba creates a ‘psychological scar,’ and it should be closed.
In an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace Sunday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that it would be in the U.S.’ national interest to close the facility.
“It does create a psychological scar on our national values. Whether it should or not, it does,” he said.
Still, he cautioned that if the facility is closed there will be dozens of prisoners who will have to be detained, and “Our elected officials need to find a way to detain them."
President Barack Obama pledged to close the facility upon taking office in 2008, but has run up against a confrontational Congress that has opposed sending detainees to the U.S., including for trial, and has placed restrictions on transferring them to other countries.
Guantanamo was opened under former President George W. Bush in 2002 to detain "extraordinarily dangerous persons" in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
132 inmates remain at the facility.
