The memory of Barack Obama's 2008promise to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay now makes human rights activists roll their eyes. But last month, with comedian Jon Stewart as witness, the president repeated the same vow. Should Americans believe him?Probably not, says Charles Stimson, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs under George W. Bush.Robert Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas-Austin who served on an Obama administration task force charged with evaluating detention policy, says that Obama's intentions are genuine, but the GOP-controlled House and Democrat-led Senate pose too great an obstacle.I certainly don't think it's going to happen, because Congress is cabining him in," he says. "This isn't the policy he wants, but it's the policy he's stuck with."
the republicans again block and obstruct then blame the Pres. for not getting it done. last 4 years, deja vu all over again.
Obama's failure to close Gitmo has been criticized by progressives and conservatives alike (remember Clint Eastwood and the chair?), but his failure is really his inability to overcome the bipartisan intransigence on the Hill. In 2009, Obama tried to move Guantanamo prisoners to the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois before he was stonewalled by the House Armed Services Committee, which had a Democratic chairman at the time. Congress also passed a law that stopped the Obama administration from holding trials for Guantanamo prisoners in the United States by clamping down on the transfer of prisoners.
Not everyone thinks Obama's latest Gitmo promise is empty. Ken Gude, chief of staff and vice president at the Center for American Progress, says that while "it's very unlikely that we'll see major changes in Congress's outlook on closing Guantanamo in 2013," he is optimistic that Obama will be able to overcome past obstacles and close the prison later in his second term.
only if they can parlay to something they consider huge and in favor of the rich will they make any adjustment in policy, remember they already said no tax hike on the rich, they value their commitment to Norquist more than their oath of office to "we the people".
