U.S. commander overseeing Guantanamo Bay fired: Southern Command

[webfact]

U.S. commander overseeing Guantanamo Bay fired: Southern Command

By Pete Schroeder

 

A guard opens the gate at the entrance to Camp VI, a prison used to house detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, March 5, 2013. REUTERS/Bob Strong/Files

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. admiral in charge of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba has been fired "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," U.S. Southern Command said in a statement on Sunday.

 

Rear Admiral John Ring was removed from the post on Saturday, the brief statement said, without giving details about why.

 

Jose Ruiz, a spokesman for Southern Command, which oversees Guantanamo, told Reuters the decision was the result of a monthlong investigation completed earlier in April, but declined to provide specifics.

 

The firing was first reported by The New York Times.

 

Ring had led Guantanamo since April 2018. General John Hussey, formerly the center's deputy commander, will now lead it in an acting capacity, the statement said.

 

"This change in leadership will not interrupt the safe, humane, legal care and custody provided to the detainee population at GTMO," Southern Command said in its statement.

 

The Guantanamo detention center, opened by Republican President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects captured overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has become a byword for harsh detention practices that have opened the United States to accusations of torture.

 

President Barack Obama shrank its population while in office but failed to completely close the center as he had once promised. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2018 to keep the center open, and has discussed adding to its population. Since May 2018, Guantanamohas housed 40 prisoners.

 

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-30

[car720]

They could always put 'Big Joke' in charge of the place.

[Tug]

Wonder who he pissed off

[Emdog]

He wasn't "fired", in spite of repeat usages of that term. Anyone with half a brain knows you don't fire people in military, unless a firing squad is in there (attempt at humor...)

They can be removed from duty, reassigned, demoted for cause, etc.

"....fired "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command,"..."

I can think of  other people in positions who fit that criteria. Slippery slope time

[Dumbastheycome]

Ironic sign in the picture .lol

[oldrunner]

Usually, in the case of a one star officer, they either said the wrong thing or didn't say the right thing. He irritated someone up the line of at least two-four stars. Hard enough to get to that one-star level and then lose it for some reason or another. Retire in some embarrassment but not much. Thousands of competent 0-6 officers in the grand stand waiting for the star opportunity.

[Ulic]

10 hours ago, Emdog said:

He wasn't "fired", in spite of repeat usages of that term. Anyone with half a brain knows you don't fire people in military, unless a firing squad is in there (attempt at humor...)

They can be removed from duty, reassigned, demoted for cause, etc.

"....fired "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command,"..."

I can think of  other people in positions who fit that criteria. Slippery slope time

Semantics  

[Hank Gunn]

"You can't handle the truth!" ????

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎4‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 1:27 PM, Emdog said:

He wasn't "fired", in spite of repeat usages of that term. Anyone with half a brain knows you don't fire people in military, unless a firing squad is in there (attempt at humor...)

They can be removed from duty, reassigned, demoted for cause, etc.

"....fired "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command,"..."

I can think of  other people in positions who fit that criteria. Slippery slope time

I'm sure they can be given a dishonourable discharge, which is the same as being fired.

The only thing Obama said that I supported was when he said he'd close the place. I guess that was just another thing along the lines of "if you like your Dr you can keep your Dr".

[55Jay]

Just speculation of course, could have nothing to do with this:

 

Admiral Ring has been rattling the tin cup, trying to persuade his CoC and Congress, to fund his facility improvement projects and increase his troop/staff strength, almost as a soft prerequisite to ramping up detainee operations.  The projects include better troop living conditions as well.

 

https://www.stripes.com/news/deteriorating-facilities-draw-scrutiny-as-gitmo-eyed-for-possible-prisoner-influx-1.568062

 

Plenty of Dems still want the place shut down, so the Admiral's actually giving them indirect leverage to resist the Administration's intent, and maybe block funding appropriations.

 

On the other side of the aisle, the Admiral has been rather candid in the media, and sounds a bit frustrated and cynical about his CoC and Washington's lack of direction and lucid planning.

He may have finally wandered a bit too far off the reservation, under investigation, and then got canned for the "catch all" reason.   He's not in the Annapolis "Ring Knocker" crowd either.

 

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article215636865.html