Plan to Close Guantánamo Now Delayed Until 2011 at the Earliest

This is good news. Guantanamo is a perfectly fine facility for detaining unlawful combatants, such as the ones currently being held there. It was a remarkably bad idea to transfer them here to a federal prison on American soil, as proposed by Barack Obama. As a result, Congress refusal to provide funding for this exercise is a very positive and welcome development.

Obama needs to learn to measure his words much more carefully. He speaks without regard for the difficulty of making his great boasts come to pass. It is sad to see him diminish not only himself, but also the office which he holds and the credibility of the United States with empty talk such as his early promise to close Guantanamo within a year. It was obvious at the time that he made this commitment that he was just shooting his mouth off. As President of the United States, he should have known better than to play the fool with this highly sensitive issue.

From the New York Times:

[RQUOTER]Plan to Move Guantánamo Detainees Faces a New Delay

WASHINGTON — 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.

While Mr. Obama has acknowledged that he would miss the Jan. 22 deadline for closing the prison that he set shortly after taking office, the administration appeared to take a major step forward last week when he directed subordinates to move “as expeditiously as possible” to acquire the Thomson Correctional Center, a nearly vacant maximum-security Illinois prison, and to retrofit it to receive Guantánamo detainees.

But in interviews this week, officials estimated that it could take 8 to 10 months to install new fencing, towers, cameras and other security upgrades before any transfers take place. Such construction cannot begin until the federal government buys the prison from the State of Illinois.

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.

The administration will probably not have another opportunity until Congress takes up a supplemental appropriations bill for the Afghanistan war. Lawmakers are not likely to finish that bill until late March or April.

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.

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You guys realize that this was a bipartisan move lead by the Democrats in Congress, right?

From the original article:

[RQUOTER]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.[/RQUOTER]

Obama should never have made this commitment. You may have heard the old saying "Don't let your mouth get your ass in trouble." President Obama appears to be deficient in his understanding of these wise words. He would be well advised to begin making himself familiar with them.

 

The Democrats in Congress say no. And on this one, they are right for a change.

 

The ability of these prisons to "contain" them is not at issue here.