WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress from both parties clamored Sunday for President Obama to develop a plan for dealing with the suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay if he intends to fulfill his promise to close its prison by early 2010. The top U.S. military officer also awaited a decision from the commander in chief.
"We're saying, 'Mr. President, give us the plan,"' said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, acknowledged that figuring out how to fulfill Obama's promise to close the detention facility on the U.S. navy base in Cuba is "a real challenge." Officials report that 240 suspected terrorists are housed there.
"We're working hard now to figure out what the options are and what the best one would be. And that really is a decision the president is going to have to make, certainly in meeting this deadline of what we do," Mullen said.
Obama's promise to close the detention facility by early 2010 ran smack into political reality in the last week. Obama's fellow Democrats denied him funding to move the suspected terrorists while Republicans latched onto a message that helped the minority GOP drive sustained headlines for the first time in months.
"Well, I don't think you can convince the American people that you can bring the people from Gitmo to their states and they will be safe," said Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican.
The not-in-my-backyard chorus drove Obama to deliver a speech defending his decision to close the facility, proposed during the campaign and delivered during his second full day in power. Yet lawmakers and even Obama's own advisers remained unsure after the speech of how, exactly, the president would make good on his vow to close the symbol of the United States' detention of suspected terrorists in a legal limbo. - FOX News Story
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