Today the Washington Post published a lengthy investigation into administration’s failure to close Guantanamo Bay, and its findings won’t be a surprise to anyone who was skeptical of Obama’s vow to shutter the detention center.
Obama’s plan ran into the predictable obstacles. From a practical standpoint, many Guantanamo detainees simply couldn’t be prosecuted because much of the evidence against them couldn’t be introduced at trial. There were also the exorbitant security costs of trying high-profile detainees in civilian courts. And then there was the growing political opposition in congress.
According to the Post, the White House never really put up a fight:
The one theme that repeatedly emerged in interviews was a belief that the White House never pressed hard enough on what was supposed to be a signature goal. Although the closure of Guantanamo Bay was announced in an executive order, which Obama signed on Jan. 22, 2009, the fanfare never translated into the kind of political push necessary to sustain the policy. “Vulnerable senators weren’t going out on a limb and risk being Willie Hortonized on Gitmo when the White House, with the most to lose, wasn’t even twisting arms,” said a senior Democratic aide whose boss was one of 50 Democrats to vote in 2009 against funding to close Guantanamo.
There are two possible conclusions that can be drawn from this. The first is that Obama never really believed his own overblown rhetoric about Gitmo being a major national security threat. If that’s the case, it explains why he never really pushed to close the facility. The second is that he does believe the detention center is a huge risk, but decided that his own political future (and the future of his party) was more important.
Both scenarios indicate enormous political cowardice and a disregard for the American people. Obama’s reelection campaign will soon be out in full force, and he’ll probably be making a lot of new promises—but it’s work remembering the ones he didn’t keep, and maybe never intended to.
