Guantanamo Bay: Still Open, and No Sign of Closing

One of President Barack Obama's campaign promises was to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a prison opened by the Bush Administration in 2002.  There, detainees are kept indefinitely until vague trial dates, and allegations of other human rights abuses have emerged (the BBC has reported numerous suicide attempts). Shortly after his inauguration, this proposal to close Guantanamo was integrated into Obama's vaunted first 100 days agenda.  In fact, it still hasn't been accomplished, and it seems less likely with each passing month.  Of the 775 detainees brought to Guantanamo, just three have been convicted of crimes.  Although the number of prisoners has dramatically decreased in the past few years, a February count found that 172 remain behind bars at Guantanamo.  Will they be released by the 2012 elections?  Unfortunately, the answer is no.  Even with Democrats in firm control, the Senate voted 90-6 in 2009 to block funds allocated for the relocation of prisoners and eventual center closure, showing surprising bipartisan opposition to such a plan.  Although the UN has called for an end to the detentions at Guantanamo Bay, the recent Defense Authorization Bill put in place major roadblocks that obstruct such a shutdown from ever happening.  Until some day in the distant future, Guantanamo Bay will stay open.  Obama's promise will remain unfulfilled.  And the indefinite suspension of habeus corpus will continue.