Sloan, Cliff - short clip - SingleGreatestWaytoCombatTerrorism

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
  More Rights Info
- Files (1)
- MP4
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4c53nm1r?embed=true' height='500px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' loading='lazy' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4c53nm1r
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

-	There's no question that countries around the world	0:00
	feel strongly that Guantanamo should be closed	0:06
	and a broad range of countries.	0:09
	And I heard that directly from them	0:10
	and from different international organizations.	0:13
	As I say that also sometimes was channeled	0:17
	into a willingness to help us and work with us.	0:20
	But I also heard that from our ambassadors	0:23
	around the world, that it's a friction point	0:24
	with many countries around the world and is something	0:29
	that undermines our alliances and relationships.	0:34
	And I had many ambassadors who implored me	0:40
	to move forward as promptly as we could	0:46
	because it was an irritant with other countries,	0:50
	but other countries also felt strongly	0:52
	about closing Guantanamo	0:57
	because it undermines collectively our security, you know.	0:58
	At one meeting that I had with a very, very tough ally	1:01
	on counter-terrorism, a country that's on the front lines	1:07
	of counter terrorism and not a European country	1:10
	a country from another region.	1:13
	At the end of the meeting this very senior official,	1:15
	who, as I say, is a very tough	1:18
	and staunch fighter against terrorism leaned forward.	1:22
	And he said to me, you know	1:27
	"The single greatest thing the United States could do to	1:27
	combat terrorism would be to close Guantanamo."	1:30
	You know, I'm not sure	1:33
	if it is understood as well as it should be.	1:34
	And you know, this is not just for example, President Obama,	1:38
	President George W. Bush, who's administration	1:42
	opened Guantanamo became convinced	1:47
	by the end of his presidency	1:48
	that Guantanamo should be closed.	1:50
	And in his memoir, he says that	1:51
	he was convinced Guantanamo should be closed	1:56
	because it had become, and this is a quote	1:58
	"A propaganda tool for our enemies	2:01
	and a distraction for our allies."	2:03
	And there are many senior officials	2:07
	from the Bush administration who were very active	2:11
	in Homeland Security and counter terrorism who came	2:14
	to the same conclusion and who believe strongly	2:18
	that it's time to turn the page	2:21
	and close the chapter on Guantanamo.	2:24
	And I don't think that the,	2:28
	sometimes I don't think there's as much	2:30
	of a public understanding about that consensus	2:31
	across two administrations as there as there should be.	2:35

Item Info

Title:

Sloan, Cliff - short clip - SingleGreatestWaytoCombatTerrorism

Date:

February 11, 2015

Interviewer:

Honigsberg, Peter Jan

Interviewee:

Sloan, Cliff

Role:

Government

Description:

This interview may include descriptions of violence.
Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure
Cliff Sloan, male, age 57, was the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure for the Obama administration from July 2013 to December 2104, transferring 44 men out of Guantanamo.
Description was provided by Witness to Guantanamo.

Subject:

United States

Format:

oral histories

Language:

English

Extent:

0:50:11

Digital Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo

Source Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo Video Collection, 2009-2017

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Rights Note:

Unless otherwise noted, copyright is held by Peter Hongisberg. Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license, you are free to use and share these materials subject to the following conditions: You must attribute Peter Hongisberg as the rights holder. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. You may not distribute any modifications to the materials. For other uses, including commercial uses, please contact Rubenstein Library at http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/ask.

Identifier:

57bb343a2144520a128178fc05c917ea
witnesstoguantanamo
ark:/87924/r4c53nm1r
b595459f-952e-47ae-ad70-0df10e251798

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4c53nm1r

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Sloan, Cliff - short clip - SingleGreatestWaytoCombatTerrorism

Transcript

Item Info

Human Rights Archive

More Info & Options