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Yale Law School Military Justice Expert on Efforts to Close Guantanamo

Eugene Fidell said there are potent reasons to want to shut down Guantanamo, starting with its cost.

A military justice expert from Yale Law School said the president’s comments on closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay are a first step in an effort to get the American people behind him on the issue.

Eugene Fidell said President Barack Obama will need the support of the American people if he wants to make good on his promise to close the U.S. detention facility.  

"And that may be a challenge, because people’s attention is focused elsewhere," Fidell said. "It's focused on the presidential campaigns. But without the people affirmatively behind him on this task, I think it’ll be really really difficult to see how he can bring the population down to zero which is what it should be."

Fidell teaches military justice at Yale Law School. He said there are potent reasons to want to shut down Guantanamo, starting with its cost.  

"It's also a fact that the continuing operation of Guantanamo as a prison has a tremendously corrosive effect around the world," he said. "Our allies are disgusted about it, and the people who are not our allies are furious about it."

One key policy question, said Fidell, is whether the U.S. really wants to detain anyone forever without a trial. "There seems to be no end in sight to the kind of turmoil we see in the world," he said. "And we can’t permit that pattern of terrorism to detract from our basic values about the administration of justice."

GOP lawmakers said the president will face stiff resistance to his plan. 

Diane Orson is a special correspondent with Connecticut Public. She is a longtime reporter and contributor to National Public Radio. Her stories have been heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Here and Now; and The World from PRX. She spent seven years as CT Public Radio's local host for Morning Edition.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.