Gitmo review delayed 6 months

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By Joseph Curl

President Obama on Monday extended by six months a task force charged with determining how terrorism suspects should be interrogated, held in custody or handed over to other countries, putting in jeopardy his promise to close the military detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by January.

The move came on the same day the president pushed back the release of a congressionally mandated report on the nation's economic conditions, and the White House began to extend a self-imposed deadline for overhauling the nation's health care system.

Pushing back the deadline on how to handle 229 Gitmo detainees, among them five suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks, including accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, illustrates just how complicated it is to solve the campaign issue that Mr. Obama this month called "one of the biggest challenges of my administration."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, was blunt in his criticism over the delay.

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"Bipartisan majorities of both houses and the American people oppose closing Guantanamo without a plan, and several important questions remain unanswered. But it became increasingly clear over time that the administration announced its intent to close the facility before it actually had a plan," he said.

Six months after Mr. Obama signed the closure order, fewer than 20 of about 245 inmates have been transferred out of the U.S. military base in Cuba.

The White House put a positive spin on the delay, although none of the "senior administration officials" who briefed reporters Monday night agreed to be named.

"The goal in six months is to move through the considerations, file by file, of each of the detainees at Guantanamo, move them to disposition and close the facility," one official said.

The officials used that word "goal" several times, seeming to redefine the firm timetable set by the president to close the facility by Jan. 22. "Well, that is our goal; that's what we're working towards, is meeting the date set forth," one official said.