Closing Guantanamo: A View from Four Years Ago

In his speech this afternoon, the President is expected to announce a renewed effort to close Guantanamo.   This will require hard work, both with Congress and with other countries.   When the President originally announced his intent to shutter Guantanamo, I supported that effort, but I recognized that it would be harder than the President envisioned. Many officials in this Administration came into office apparently believing that the Bush Administration hadn't worked very hard at resolving the problem and that there were dozens of "innocent" detainees who could either be released or tried in federal courts.  In fact, neither supposition was true. Many of us who served in the previous Administration had worked hard to close Guantanamo and had successfully reduced the detainee population by more than 500 through arduous diplomacy. Here is an op-ed I wrote in the New York Times in January 2009, on the eve of the Obama Presidency, describing the work the Bush Administration had done to close Guantanamo and calling for more assistance from our allies, who had steadfastly refused to provide any help to close Guantanamo, even as they benefited from the continued detention of dangerous individuals.  I closed as follows:

But closing Guantánamo is not a simple matter of letting detainees go. Concerns about how detainees will be treated upon return could prevent us from repatriating up to one-fifth of the remaining detainees, and we will likely need to find third countries willing to accept them. Of the remaining detainees, a significant number are responsible for the deaths on Sept. 11 and in other terrorist attacks, or are dangerous individuals who pose a significant threat to America or other countries if allowed to go free. However you do the math, a significant number of these detainees will likely remain in U.S. hands, and difficult decisions will have to be made about where to hold them and what legal rules apply. Even with other countries' help, the problem of closing Guantánamo will continue to defy an easy solution.

More than four years later, closing Guantanamo continues to defy an easy solution.   But Guantanamo cannot remain open for another fifty years, like Spandau Prison holding Rudolf Hess after World War II.  Both Congress and other countries should support President Obama's efforts to devise a long-term solution.