Ultimate Weekend Trial Balloon: One Year Gitmo Pledge Looking to be Broken

The Obama's admins tendency to release info on the weekends has been documented again, and again. Normally you do this when the population as a whole would get angry, this admin seems to save the info that will infuriate its base for just the weekends. There are times I look forward to the weekend simply because I know the One will hint or announce a policy I support. After months of coming to grips with Gitmo and accepting military tribunals, they have finally come around to laying the final groundwork to the announcement that Gitmo will be staying open for the time being.

President Barack Obama may not be able to meet his stated goal of closing the much-criticized Guantanamo Bay prison by January as his administration runs into daunting legal and logistical hurdles to moving the more than 220 detainees still there.

Senior administration officials acknowledged for the first time Friday that difficulties in completing the lengthy review of detainee files and resolving other thorny questions mean the president's promised January deadline may slip.

Obama's aides have stepped up their work toward closure and the president 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 to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to more freely discuss the sensitive issue.

They said the White House still was hoping to meet the deadline through a stepped-up effort.

The U.S. military 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-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere. But it has since become a lightning rod of anti-U.S. criticism around the globe. There are approximately 225 detainees still being held at the prison.

Obama promised soon after taking office — and many times since — to close the prison, arguing that doing so is crucial to restoring America's image in the world and to creating a more effective anti-terror approach.

But eight months after Obama's initial pledge and with only four months to go before the January deadline, a number of difficult issues remain unresolved. They include establishing 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.

Exist question: When they announce it stay open will they give another phony deadline for closure or claim an intention in the future to close?