FOXNews.com: Obama to announce plans to lift ban on sending Guantanamo detainees to Yemen

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Obama to announce plans to lift ban on sending Guantanamo detainees to Yemen May 23rd 2013, 05:45 April 27, 2010: A detainee runs inside an exercise area at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.Reuters President Obama will announce Thursday that the White House plans to lift the ban on sending detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Yemen, Fox News confirms, a move that could effectively resume efforts to close down the prison That effort, however, has been stymied because many countries don't want the detainees or are unwilling or unable to guarantee that once transferred, detainees who may continue to be a threat will not be released. There are currently about 166 prisoners at Guantanamo, and 86 have been approved for transfer as long as security restrictions are met. The Pentagon is asking Congress for more than $450 million for maintaining and upgrading the facility, which includes $79 million for detention operations, the same as the current year, and $20.5 million for the office of military commissions, an increase over the current amount of $12.6 million. Since his inauguration in January 2009, Obama has pushed for shutting the prison, signing an executive order for closure during his first week in office. He has faced resistance in Congress with Republicans and some Democrats repeatedly blocking efforts to transfer terror suspects to the United States. The law that Congress passed and Obama signed in March to keep the government running includes a longstanding provision that prohibits any money for the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States or its territories. It also bars spending to overhaul any U.S. facility in the U.S. to house detainees. That makes it essentially illegal for the government to transfer the men it wants to continue holding, including five who were charged before a military tribunal with orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks. Lawmakers have cited statistics on terror suspects striking again and argued that Obama has failed to produce a viable alternative to Guantanamo. Obama's speech is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities, but make no new sweeping policy pronouncements. The White House has offered few specifics on what the president will say to address long-standing questions that have dogged his administration for years and, experts said, given foreign allies mixed signals about U.S. intentions in some of the world's most volatile areas. The president will try to refocus an increasingly disinterested and scandal-weary U.S. public on security issues.  Obama will speak at the National Defense University in Washington. Fox News' Justin Fishel and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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