Every month or two, a new estimate comes out from the Pentagon on the cost of running Guantanamo Bay. Every time, that estimate is dramatically higher than the one that came before.
For an island detention center with 166 detainees, many of whom have already been cleared for release, the Pentagon now says it will cost $454 million in 2013 alone, a price that is soaring for a lot of reasons, including the cost of force-feedings.
The Pentagon assessment put the overall price tag for Guantanamo at $4.7 billion from its opening in 2002 until this point. But the facility used to hold a lot more people, and President Obama announced in 2008 he was going to close it within a year.
Now, the huge annual cost is drawing Congressional attention, with many calling it a colossal waste of money, and one even more galling with so many cleared to go home. Yet with neither Obama nor the Congressional leadership willing to push the matter, the increasingly pricey status quo will continue.