Obama on Closing Gitmo: ‘I Have Spent Countless Hours on This’

"I really think there is an opportunity here for progress. I believe we've got an obligation to try it. President Bush said he wanted to close Guantanamo, despite everything that he had invested in it. I give him credit for that. There was an honest assessment on his part about what needed to happen. But he didn't get it done, and it was passed to me. I've been working for seven years now to get this thing closed. 

As president, I have spent countless hours dealing with this. I do not exaggerate about that. Our closest allies raise it with me continuously. They often raise specific cases of detainees repeatedly. I don't want to pass this problem on to the next president, whoever it is. And if as a nation we don't deal with this now, when will we deal with it? Are we going to let this linger on for another 15 years, another 20 years, another 30 years? 

If we don't do what's required now, I think future generations are going to look back and ask why we failed to act when the right course, the right side of history and justice and our best American traditions was clear. So, again, I want to thank Secretary Carter, you and your team did an outstanding job and you've shown great leadership on this issue. 

With this plan we have the opportunity to finally eliminate a terrorist propaganda tool, strengthen relationships with allies and partner, enhance our national security and uphold the things that define us as Americas. I'm absolutely committed to closing the facility at Guantanamo. 

I'm going to continue to make the case for doing so for as long as I hold this office. This is a good moment for everybody to step back, take a look at the facts, take a look at the views of those who have been most committed to fighting terrorism and understand this stuff, our operatives, our intelligence officials, our military. Let's go ahead and get this thing done."