Obama: Guantanamo Deadline Likely to Be Missed

The American Forces Press Service reported November 18 (in an article posted on the DoD website) that President Barack Obama has acknowledged that his deadline for closing the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will probably not be met. During his recent trip to Asia the President is quoted as saying, "We had a specific deadline that we missed."

Technically, he hasn't missed the deadline yet. It is clear, however, that the January deadline imposed by the President nearly one year ago will come and go without Gitmo being closed. Why is this happening? It's simple, really: there are bad people being detained there, and there are no easy answers when it comes to their disposition. Other countries don't want them. They are not entitled to the judicial rights provided for American citizens in the Constitution. Congress can't seem to come up with a satisfactory war tribunal format. You name it, it's working against Gitmo's closure. Personally, I think that's okay. Yes, Gitmo has a bad image, but if we just closed it for the sake of closure we'd have to reestablish it somewhere else.

And here's a great quote from the story: "He added that his administration won't set a new deadline, but does expect the facility shut down sometime next year." Imagine that! George W. Bush was right. These are evil people that must be dealt with, including indefinite detention without charge or trial. In fact, the Obama administration has already maintained in testimony to congress its right to detain terrorist suspects without charge or trial, as well as its right to render terrorist suspects to third countries for interrogation. That's why there's no new deadline. Nobody really knows how long these guys might have to be held.

Obama is quoted as saying, "We are on a path and a process where I would anticipate Guantanamo will be closed next year. I'm not going to set an exact date, because a lot of this is also going to depend on cooperation from Congress."

Well, that shouldn't be a problem, right? The President's party controls both houses of Congress. He should be able to get whatever he wants, right?

http://www.defenselink.mil//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=56755