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White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on Sunday vowed that President Obama will close the Guantanamo Bay detainee facility before his presidency ends in 11 months. "He feels an obligation to his successor to close that, and that's why we're going to do it," McDonough said on "Fox News Sunday." "Sure we are." However, McDonough declined to answer whether Obama would use his White House powers to sidestep Congress and close the facility. "The president just said he's going to present a plan to Congress and work with Congress and then we'll make some final determination," McDonough said. Obama...

Note: The following text is a quote: United States Transfers Two Guantanamo Bay Detainees to the Government of Portugal The Department of Justice today announced that two Syrian nationals have been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the control of the government of Portugal. As directed by the President’s Jan. 22, 2009 Executive Order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of these cases. As a result of that review, the detainees were approved for transfer from Guantanamo Bay. On Aug. 6, 2009, in accordance with Congressionally-mandated reporting requirements, the Administration informed Congress of...

THE US Marine Corps has threatened to punish two military lawyers if they continue to speak publicly about reported prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay, a civilian colleague has said. The threat to Lieutenant-Colonel Colby Vokey and Sergeant Heather Cerveny follows their report that guards bragged about beating prisoners, said Muneer Ahmad, a law professor at American University in Washington who helps in the defence of a Canadian suspect. The order has heightened fears among the military defenders of Guantanamo prisoners that their careers will suffer for exposing flaws and injustices in the system, Professor Ahmad said at the weekend.