Gitmo: Closure Slipping to 2011?

The New York Times reported December 22 that the Obama administration's plan to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba may not come to fruition until some time in 2011, more than a year after the original deadline set by President Barack Obama.

The Times says, "Rebuffed this month by skeptical lawmakers when it sought finances to buy a prison in rural Illinois, the Obama administration is struggling to come up with the money to replace the Guantánamo Bay prison. As a result, officials now believe that they are unlikely to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer its population of terrorism suspects until 2011 at the earliest - a far slower timeline for achieving one of President Obama's signature national security policies than they had previously hinted."

Of course, deadlines haven't meant much to this administration thus far. Another shining example is the deadline set for Iran to comply with international demands regarding its nuclear program. Originally, the deadline was September. Now it's the end of December. Yet just this past weekend Press Secretary Robert Gibbs declined to reaffirm that deadline, signaling that it would likely slip again.

The Times continues, "The federal Bureau of Prisons does not have enough money to pay Illinois for the center, which would cost about $150 million. Several weeks ago, the White House approached the House Appropriations Committee and floated the idea of adding about $200 million for the project to the military spending bill for the 2010 fiscal year, according to administration and Congressional officials. But Democratic leaders refused to include the politically charged measure in the legislation. When lawmakers approved the bill on Dec. 19, it contained no financing for Thomson."

So not only did a Democratic Congress not approve funds earlier this year to close Gitmo, it has now refrained from funding the alternate site in Illinois.

And more, "Moreover, the administration now says that the current focus for Thomson financing is the appropriations legislation for the 2011 fiscal year. Congress will not take that measure up until late 2010."

"The White House has argued that closing Guantánamo would enhance national security by removing a symbol used by terrorist recruiters. It also said the closing would save taxpayers money because the Defense Department pays $150 million a year to operate the Guantánamo prison on the naval base there, while running the Illinois prison would cost $75 million."

It would appear, then, that enhancing national security is less of a priority than healthcare expansion (I say expansion and not reform because the legislation in front of congress now is not reform, it is a means to expand coverage.)

And what about this little tidbit: "Still, Congressional resistance to approving money for Thomson represents a steep hurdle toward dealing with the detainees who the administration has decided can neither be prosecuted nor safely transferred to the custody of other countries."

Cannot be prosecuted or safely transferred to another country? Does that mean indefinite detention without a conviction?

"Indeed, Mr. Waxman said, the debate is certain to set off discussions on an issue that could drive away many civil-liberties-minded Democrats who have voiced initial support for Mr. Obama's Thomson plan: the administration's intention to imprison some detainees on United States soil without trials."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/us/politics/23gitmo.html?_r=2