Obama: Gitmo Continues To Be A Magnet For Jihadist Recruiting

Obama vowed during a press conference Friday to close Guantanamo Bay prison camp in 2016 because continues to be a magnet for jihadist recruiting.

“For us to close it is part of our counterterrorism strategy,” Obama said at a year-end press conference at the White House before he jets off for his annual three week vacation in Hawaii.

Obama would not say definitively that if he’d use executive action to shut down Guantanamo should Congress continue to block him – but suggested it’s an option on the table.

“We will wait until Congress has definitely said no to a well-thought-out plan with numbers attached to it, before we say anything definitive about my executive authority here.” he said. “I think it’s far preferable if I can get stuff done with Congress.”

Obama said he expects the population of Guantanamo detainees to fall below 100 by early next year.

“There’s gonna come a point where we have an irreducible population,” Obama said.

It seems very unlikely Republicans in Congress would suddenly decide to stop blocking the Obama administration’s efforts to close the facility, the president said Congress could still “surprise” him.