Gitmo May Remain Open

There may actually be a modicum of sanity* inside the Obama administration after all. When the President announced in January that he would be closing Gitmo within a year I predicted that it would not happen. It was more than simply a means of consoling my more distraught friends and family.

The White House acknowledged for the first time Friday that it might not be able to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay by January as President Barack Obama has promised.

Senior administration officials told The Associated Press that difficulties in completing the lengthy review of detainee files and resolving thorny legal and logistical questions mean the president's self-imposed January deadline may slip. Obama remains as committed to closing the facility as he was when, as one of his first acts in office, he pledged to shut it down, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to more freely discuss the sensitive issue.

Despite the hysterical cries of their opponents, the Bush administration had been searching for a way to close Gitmo for years. They found exactly what Obama is now discovering - it's a whole lot easier said than done.

But eight months after Obama's pledge and with only four months to go before the January deadline, a number of difficult issues remain unresolved. They include establishment of a new set of rules for military trials, finding a location for a new prison to house detainees and finding host countries for those who can be released.

This has prompted top Republicans in Congress to demand that the prison stay open for now, saying it is too dangerous to rush the closure. Even Democrats defied the president, saying they needed more information about Obama's plan before supporting it. Congress is for now denying Obama funds to shut down Guantanamo.

The detainees do not consist entirely of unfortunate shepherds and tourists who happened to stumble into the wrong place at the wrong time. There are actually some real legitimate bad guys there! People who are so dangerous they should not be let out under any circumstances.

After Obama's promise, administration officials and lawyers began to reviewing the files on each detainee. At issue: which can be tried, and whether to do so in military or civilian courts; which can be released to other nations; and -- the hardest question -- which are too dangerous or their cases too compromised by lack of evidence that they must be held indefinitely.

Obama doesn't want to be the President who is responsible for freeing the terrorist inside the US who goes on to kill Americans. Gitmo will remain open.

* - via Don Surber