WASHINGTON — 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 might 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 to more freely discuss the sensitive issue.
The prison in Cuba was created by former President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a landing spot for suspected al-Qaeda, Taliban and foreign fighters captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere. But it has become a lightning rod of anti-U.S. criticism. There are about 225 detainees being held there.
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.
After Obama’s promise, administration officials and lawyers began to review the files on each detainee. At issue: who can be tried, and whether to do so in military or civilian courts; who can be released to other nations; and which prisoners are too dangerous, or their cases too compromised by lack of evidence, that they must be held indefinitely.
That database has now been completed, and prosecutors also have concluded their initial review of the detainees and recommended to the Justice Department an unspecified number who appear eligible for prosecution, the officials told AP.
The Justice Department and the Pentagon now will work together to determine which prisoners should be tried in military courts and which in civilian ones, the officials said. They would not provide a number recommended for prosecution because it could change.
