Republicans Tuesday struck out at President Barack Obama’s long-promised plan to close the United States’ detention center at Guantanamo Bay, with several insisting that his plan to transfer detainees to American soil is against the law.

“After seven years, President Obama has yet to convince the American people that moving Guantanamo terrorists to our homeland is smart or safe,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said shortly after Obama’s announcement, and he doesn’t seem interested in continuing to try.”

Further, said Ryan, Obama’s extensive proposal “fails to provide critical details required by law, including the exact cost and location of an alternate detention facility. Congress has left no room for confusion. It is against the law — and it will stay against the law — to transfer terrorist detainees to American soil. We will not jeopardize our national security over a campaign promise.”

Obama’s proposal, which has been demanded by opponents resisting Obama’s repeated attempts to close the Cuban facility, calls to spend nearly $500 million to transfer from 30 to 60 detainees to U.S. facilities. There have been 13 potential sites that could be used, but the Pentagon has not identified a specific location for the prisoners, a point that angers opponents.

California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said Tuesday that it was little surprise that Obama made his announcement, as it’s been his “goal from day one” to close Gitmo.

“The fact that he’s willing to do it in violation of an explicit law probably means two things,” said Issa. “One, he has very little to lose in his opinion. He doesn’t believe the American people will impeach him, and with the death of Justice [Antonin] Scalia, he might view that the Supreme Court will back him by a 4-4 decision, the liberals letting him do it even if it’s a clear violation of the law.”

Further, said Issa, the president has signed a law that included not allowing detainees into the United States, but “this is a president who doesn’t respect the law or Constitution.”

If Obama ignores the law, the matter can be taken to court, Issa continued, but the courts won’t likely rule quickly, and meanwhile, the United States has a lease in perpetuity for the Gitmo property.

“For the president to void a lease may be more complicated than just saying so,” he said. “If Congress determines that the lease is not authorized to be voided, it’s a lease in perpetuity, he may order the military to leave. I have to be quite candid, it’s the decision U.S. military leaders have to make: Are they going to obey an unlawful order to move people from Guantanamo, an unlawful order to close the base?”

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Source: Sandy Fitzgerald, www.newsmax.com