To the Point

Guantánamo Bay: The Unmet Promise

Since 2002, the "detention center" at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba has held almost 800 prisoners. When he got to the White House in 2009, President Obama said closing Guantánamo was his first order of business. Last week, five men of Yemeni descent were released, but 122 inmates are still there.

By Warren Olney • Jan 20, 2015 • 1 min read

Since 2002, the "detention center" at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba has held almost 800 prisoners. When he got to the White House in 2009, President Obama said closing Guantánamo was his first order of business. Last week, five men of Yemeni descent were released, but 122 inmates are still there. The prison population is down to 122 -- with President Obama still trying to shut it down.

John McCain -- the former POW -- once advocated closing the prison, but now he's joined other Republican Senators to oppose more releases any time soon. Meantime, a book by an inmate has generated claims that Guantánamo was a "laboratory for torture" of people held without charges. Will the President's first order of business be accomplished before he leaves office?