The town of 8,000 said it lacked the infrastructure to host a major event, citing expectations of a large crowd of “people who both want to support or protest against it”, according to a statement posted on a Bergdahl supporters’ website.
One persistent question circulating in Washington is whether Obama, whose administration spent years studying options for gaining Bergdahl’s release, misgauged the potential political fallout of his move.
“I think he probably didn’t understand the backlash to releasing the ‘Fab Five’ from Gitmo,” Republican Senator Mark Kirk told AFP.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a national security hawk, fuelled the argument that Obama approved the deal as a way to whittle down the number of detainees at Guantanamo.
Moves to free detainees from the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay are gathering pace as the administration works to close the notorious jail, a top US official said Thursday.
“There are a significant number of transfers in the pipeline at various stages and I think you’re going to be seeing substantial progress this year,” the senior administration official said.
The official refused to be drawn on any specific figures.
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