CNN

[...] This is absurd.  And it's disturbing that Democrats who ran on the promise of CLOSING this national disgrace are balking on it. [...]

JB,

No Bush is to blame for starting this, but we are Democrats and we will hold the Democrats responsible for this too, will you hold Republicans responsible for anything? Doubtfull.

It's not up to the Senate or President. US constitution says you cant hold somebody without charging them and then giving them a fair trial. If that worked for McVeigh, why wouldn't it work for gitmo detainees. Charge them or let them go.

How can we hold someone prisoner for years without charges? We are not a 3rd world dictatorship, like the ones Republicans wish for.

Expat American – If you don't like America then stay out.

NIMBYs

What is the problem with putting them in our ultra-max security penitentiaries???

David – Typical Liberal response. They way to solve the world's problems is for us to slash defense spending. That thinking just puts us in more danger than we are already.

Welcome to reality, liberal Sheeple.
Very funny to watch. You can't blame Evil Bush anymore
HAHAHAHAA

Closing Gitmo makes sense morally, logically and financially. Is the Senate saying that U.S. correctional facilities cannot be trusted to hold these people. Because if our prisons cannot hold suspected terrorists, how do I trust them to hold rapists, murderers, home grown terrorists, etc.?

Here is a novel concept, send them back to their nation of birth and/or citizenship.

Guantanamo is a yet another quagmire borne out of the utter failure of Bush's Republican administration. The Supreme Court's unfortunate decision in 2001 and the 'values' of 2004 are going to be felt for a generation if not for many more after that. Thank god for John Wayne diplomacy. The world is a better place…

Guantanamo is a yet another quagmire borne out of the utter failure of Bush's Republican administration. The Supreme Court unfortunate decision in 2001 and the 'values' of 2004 are going to be felt for a generation if not for many more after that. Thank god for John Wayne diplomacy.

The world is a better place…

They should all be released in the bluest areas of this country. Makes sense, since all liberal Democrats care more about the lives of these terrorists than their fellow Americans who hold a different political view than them.

I guess I don't get it... Our prisons are the most secure in the world and house some of the most evil people on earth. Why aren't they secure enough for those men who are at GITMO??? Whats the deal here? Why is our senate so afraid of these men at GITMO? Are they super human or something?? Is there a lot of things our government isn't telling us and why can't these prisoners be brought to trial???

@ Fair is Fair

FYI, Virginia has already said we'll take them. We already hold the D.C. snipers. Trust me, they don't want to come here.

Obama and the senate owe Bush AN APOLOGY.

The hypocrisy that this administration is engaged in is undeniable and you should be blind not to see it.

Bush administration made the best decision under the circumstances and they were demonized by Obama and the senate for over 6 years.

But I am not holding my breath for Obama’s admission, he still hasn’t admitted he was wrong about the surge!

What is so scary about 200 prisoners, who may not all be terrorists, being moved into the U.S. in a maximum security federal prison. If they are let out they will be deported, not left to run around the country as they please. We have more murderers that have killed on our soil in less secure prisons closer to large population areas. Why do we let some people move the focus away from how bad Gitmo makes us look to the rest of the world and to our constitution? We are breaking a few of our treaties because of Gitmo, which makes us less safe.

I find this amazing we has serial killers,child molestors,the original wtc bombers,murderers,mobsters,etc,etc... in maximum security prisons all over the country. And yet all this fuss about 241 terrorists and whether or not to bring them to the U.S.!! WOW I mean Charles Manson,Sirhan sirhan have been in prison for decades no escapes and we can"t handle 241 terrorists amazing a bunch of B.S. talk about nothing!!!

Robert Gibbs says that Al Queda uses Gitmo as a recruiting tool. Where's the proof, Robbie??
Obama jumped the gun on 1/22/09, and now realizes that nobody wants them in their backyard! He's committed to the wacky left, but now is stuck when faced with reality.
How about shipping them to Nevada and California. Nancy and Harry can find rooms for them.

Well duh! What were you guys thinking?

Only a "Scare the bejeezus outta them" neocon rethuglican't would even suggest in a public forum that we will release suspected terrorists into the US population when we close Gitmo.

Anybody that buys into thinking that our government would release Gitmo detainees into the population has to be an absolute moron – or a rethuglican't. Oh I forgot, scratch them and they are both the same...

I hope we see HUGE protests from liberals... cries of "Warmonger", Code Pink to begin stalking this Administration, and Cindy Sheehan camping out demanding to speak with the President!!

Oh – it's the Democrats calling the shots? OOPS cancel everything!!

Obama is an IDIOT for even closing Guantanamo ...He has so many irons in the fire and can't solve or has a solution for any... He is a disgrace to America.. If he feels so bad for them let them come and live with him and his family at the white house.....

Either execute them or let them go.

If the U.S. Senate opposes transferring these terrorists to the US because of security concerns, how can we expect third countries to accept them? Yet many of those same Senators expect other countries to do what we refuse to do. The answer is to keep Guantanamo Bay open. Obama should realize his mistake and announce a change in policy.

Once again, what sounded good in appeasing the Democrat Party's base in the election campaign, makes no sense in reality.

wait a minute...........common sense in the Senate...who would have thought?? turn around Obummer,,,,let me help you pull that knife out of your back

Guess Mr. Cheney et al didn't have a plan for these people either, just like Iraq. Why not release them to Mr. Cheney's compound, or deport them to the country or countries we kidnapped or renditioned them from. If they weren't terrorist before being our guest they sure are now. Outfit the with GPS ankle braclets and let the country of origin figure it out.

Send the detainees to Crawford Texas something good will happen.

90-6, and Reid said that no terrorists will ever be housed in a US prison. You all need to remember his words. Either he will go back on them and allow Obama to put us at risk, or Obama will go back on his pledge to close Gitmo.

I have a perfect solution for Obama. Set up a tent city in Cuba, temporarily move the terrorists to that tent city, close Gitmo, reopen Gitmo the next day but call it Machismo, then move the terrorists back in. Then Obama can claim that he closed Gitmo, and the democrats in congress can claim they stood up for protecting US citizens. Problem solved. If you need any other advice, just let me know.

Stop the BS. Guantanamo is not the problem. Eliminate the guilty administrators for lack of supervision and the soldiers that abused their power. Let the prisoners enjoy the beautiful beach, the view, FEED THEM fish and lobsters to improve their mind and send the pictures over the internet. THIS IS THE WAY OBAMA TREAT THEM!

It is now clear that the campaign promises by OBAMA were based on his lack of experience in this regard, which was used by some of the ultraliberal bunch to mislead him to make such offerings.

Now he nows better, and fortunately he is intelligent enough to reverse his position, as for the Bush administration witch hunt, military tribunals etc.

As for the closing of Guantamano, he obviously agreed with his Senate friends that they will kill this measure as a service for him!

I don't see what the problem is, these guys get treated much better than almost anyone in the USA prison system, which many people seem to forget in this country. And it's simple, send the terrorists from Gitmo to Rikers Island, those terrorists wouldn't last a week with what the police and wardens have to deal with everyday, but you know, let’s make this even more political (if possible) then necessary. People are more worried about the losers we have in Gitmo then our own citizens who are abused in the system much more than these coddled terrorists could EVER dream of.

Only 6 of them have the b@llz to stand up for their convictions instead of hunkering down behind some keep-myself-blameless-in-case-something-goes-wrong legislation?

Sounds about right.

Why do we keep calling this" releasing...in the U.S.A." as if they are going to be drop at a bus or tain station and tell them to go shoping. they will be going from one U.S.A prison to another. What i don't understand is us asking other countries to take some of the dataines in their prison and not willing to take any.

How about releasing them to their own countries to imprison prosecute, house, etc...??? We can't save the world!!!

Torture is not the way to facilitate cooperation with other countries. The U.S. should focus more on soft power and increase the strategic foreign aid.
The Borgen Project has good info on the estimated cost of ending global poverty:

$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.

$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget.

It makes since, to figure out where these prisoners would be held, before closing the prison in Guantanamo Bay.

As far as the safety of the prisoners in Federal Prison, that's not really a concern? It's prison!

This pox on our society has got to go. What are these people thinking

This is ridiculus! Apparently our prisons can hold McVey, the Unibomber, and Jeff Dahmer. But it can't take some terrorist suspects.
This is shameful from both sides of the political spectrum.

Since the Dems want to shut gitmo down, why not put a couple of them in Pelosis spare bedroom and maybe a couple of them could stay in the Lincoln bedroom. Barack Obama has the same problem that Pelosi has, he runs his mouth because he likes to hear himself talk. The mess so many of you bloggers like to call the Repubs problem was actually caused in large part by the congress that was run ( stupidly I might add ) by the Dems.

I certainly can't blame Obama for not closing Guantanemo, when idiot Senators in Congress are the ones getting in his way.

Look, people, we've got dozens of Muslim terrorists already imprisoned in ADX Florence in Colorado. Why not just expand that one, or put in a new one next to it? Imagine the temprorary construction jobs it would generate, or the permanent prison guard jobs! Our justice system is no stranger to trying monsters in court. Our prison system is no stranger to holding monsters indefinitely. I think we can handle some of these guys.

Well no ..........duh. Of course not! The POW's imprisoned in Guantanamo should be processed through our Judicial system, one case at a time, and IF proven innocent of wrong doing sent back to their homeland!

Many are wrongly imprisoned at Guantanamo, and should be sent back to their home countries!

NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS WOULD RELEASE THE POW'S HERE !

All the bleeding heart libs and ACLU screaming to close GITMO never thought about where the prisoners would go! What a bunch of idiots, including Nobama, campaigning about closing GITMO without further thought. No he's stuck. He is beginning to grow up some and realize that not all of the Bush tactics were failure as he is keeping many going now, much to you ditwitcrats disapproval and my delight!

LOL... oh that's rich...

CLOSE IT.... oh wait... where are we going to put them?

Guess what folks... GITMO isn't closing... because not a single NATO country will take them... NOBODY wants these people in their border.

Get real people. Our prisons house child rapists, serial killers, and house thousands of members of domestic terror groups, i.e. gangs. These terrorists are not supermen, and treating them as such by acting too scared to house them in a United States super max is giving them way more credit than they deserve, and sends a very clear message to their constituents on the outside.

Gitmo needs to be closed – it has been an international embarassment to the USA. The inmates can be safely put in one of our supermax prisons. Certainly some of the inmates currently in the supermax prisons are far more dangerous than these guys who have never been tried so that we know if they are really terrorists or not. Gitmo is an abomination and a creation of the Dictator in chief George W Bush. It needs to close. Now.

"Down with Bush! Free the Gitmo Victims of Bush/Cheney Terror! Prosecute Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld! Crucify them! Crucify them! We have no king but Obama! Give us the Gitmo Boys – we love them! There but for the grace of God go we! They're just misunderstood!"

[What, you mean these scum might be relocated into MY State?]

"Never mind."

I say we release then to Bad Newz, Virginia.

we need to kick all the gang, arian, and kkk members out of our prisons & move them to gitmo now....i may be radicalized.
child molesters & rapist, mass murderers, criminally insane you're ok in my back yard.

Maybe Nancy Pelosi can house a few

So basically the first two things Obama does in office get reversed 4 months later?

Whats wrong with our Prisons? Democrats and Republicans have no Faith in our Prisons Thats sad, And why Democrats are you caving into the Fear Mongering ways of the Republicans Didnt you Learn from the Iraq War to reject their Fear Mongering Ways The American people did in the Last 2 Elections

My my 90-6. Won't the liberal "progressives" have their panties in a wad now. Even the party that they claim to be members of has slapped their ideas down. Guess that goes to show that there really are some reasonable folks in both parties. Just seems that the self proclaimed "progressives" are the ones ranting the most and making the least amount of sense. It's a good thing that cooler heads prevail most of the time.

We have super max facilities in the US that house some of the worst of the worst. There have been no escapes. If the US cannot contain a couple hundred people from Gitmo, then our national security is really in dire straights. We seriously cannot house two hundred people? We've been locking people up by the hundreds of thousands since Reagan's war on people, haven't we learned how to safely house individuals such as these?

All this controversy about releasing gitmo detainees into the US is a fake argument. IF they were found innocent, they would be deported to whereever they came from. People act as if our prisons aren't tough enough to hold these people. We HAVE maximum security prisons, where the inmates aren't allowed to mix with each other. If we can hold Charles Manson and brain eaters, surely we can hold these guys. They ARE just human after all.

Congress has watched one to many Batman movies.

These aren't Super Villians with magical powers. This isn't the Joker whose face-painted minions will use gas ballons to break these guys out of prison.

They are human convicts...that can and should be housed in prisons.

This is what happens when a country is ruled by fear.

Imagine that! Actually requiring Hussein to have a PLAN before closing Gitmo.

Obama, you are the weakest link! Goodbye.

I thought Obama had a plan. I guess not...................

LOL... I love it!

After all the insults, attacks, and condemnation of President Bush... Congress and Barack are making the SAME decisions!!

Do yall liberals like your crow plain or with Texas BBQ sauce??

Why not? At least we'd know exactly where they are at all times! "Keep your enemies close."

wow Dems and Repubs agreeing on something...there is hope yet!

Good move – we don't want these terrorists here or any where else. Maybe Obama should have had a plan in place before making a promise he couldn't keep. Easier said than done, but people believed everything that came out of Campaign Obama. Now trainee Obama has to try and deliver.

The only ones who seem to think the detainees would be released into the US are REPUBLICANS.

PEOPLE! They are LYING to you. AGAIN.

I want those detainess in a federal supermax penetintiary in the U.S. Period! If they're guilty of conspiring to kill Americans, let them spend time in American prison. I bet they won't last long. On top of that, I just don't trust them being held anywhere else except here.

The White House has plenty of rooms!!!!!!
Nothing like seeing your decisions at work.

And who said they were being released?

Hey, I have an idea. We could dump them all in Antarctica and film the hilarity that is sure to follow. The advertising revenue would cover at least some of the costs associated with closing the base.

Do we have to do everything out of fear? Always afraid. Never able to make a decision. Hiding in bunkers. So proud.