President Obama is still planning to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. That’s the official position at least but a year after missing his original self-imposed deadline and some 18 months since he’s made any meaningful efforts toward that end, he’ll have to forgive most Americans if they’re pretty skeptical.
The initial “plan,” which was to submit a vague proposal to close the facility to Congress then praise Congress for rejecting it, seems to be right and formally dead now, and Congress has passed several measures since rejecting even the notion of allowing its closure.
So while officials keep insisting there’s a plan in place, the White House is officially mum on what it is, and the evidence suggests there simply isn’t any plan left, and that the administration doesn’t want to admit that keeping one of their first post-inauguration promises is completely out of the realm of possibilities.
Indeed, President Obama has gone from banning the military tribunals to formally embracing them, and is about to issue an executive order formalizing permanent detention without trial for a number of the detainees. If anything it seems the notion of closing the facility fell out of favor in his own mind before it did in Congress.
FWIW, I think Obama is just going through the motions at this point. I would complain, but at this point I am only going through the motions.
"So while officials keep insisting there’s a plan in place", : The plan never left the ofiice of the planer, as his plan for ending the wars, as his plans for healthcare, as his plan for educations, as his plan for less constley educations, as his plan for creating jobs, as his plan for ending the hunger in USA and etc etc etc. So they always have a plan but if that or this plan is ever going to leave the desk of the planer is yet to be seen.