The Obama administration has been blaming Congress for the failure to close Gitmo. But it was the White House that blocked the effort, Sen. Lindsey Graham said during an interview with The Cable. “We came really close, quite frankly,” Graham said. “I just think there are people in the White House, second-level down, who were very resistant to the idea of legitimizing that we were at war.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney insisted that the president is still committed to closing the detention facility eventually. Maybe so–but the chances of its ever happening seem pretty slim. Dates for the 9/11 tribunals haven’t even been set yet. And from a political perspective, Obama will probably want to put off any high-profile Gitmo trials until after the presidential election. Even if he does end up winning a second term in 2012 and the tribunals begin immediately afterward, they will likely drag on for years. Not to mention, there’s no guarantee that Congress (or Obama administration officials, for that matter) will be any more open to the idea of closing Guantanamo down the road.
