Newest broken promise: Gitmo to close no sooner than early 2011

Fine by me. And, chances are, by you too.

Rebuffed this month by skeptical lawmakers when it sought finances to buy a prison in rural Illinois, the Obama administration is struggling to come up with the money to replace the Guantánamo Bay prison.

As a result, officials now believe that they are unlikely to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer its population of terrorism suspects until 2011 at the earliest — a far slower timeline for achieving one of President Obama’s signature national security policies than they had previously hinted…

But in interviews this week, officials estimated that it could take 8 to 10 months to install new fencing, towers, cameras and other security upgrades before any transfers take place. Such construction cannot begin until the federal government buys the prison from the State of Illinois…

Moreover, the administration now says that the current focus for Thomson financing is the appropriations legislation for the 2011 fiscal year. Congress will not take that measure up until late 2010.

What are the odds that Reid and Pelosi, staring at a GOP wipeout in November, are going to push funding for a signature national security issue opposed by 64 percent of the public mere months before the election? They’d have to be as stupid as, say, The One was when he promised to close Gitmo by January despite not knowing (a) how soon the case against each detainee could be prepared, (b) how willing other countries would be to take prisoners, and (c) whether any alternate facilities were available and, if not, how hard it would be politically to get one built in mainland America. I guess his plan, as always, was to say a few words, fire off some Hopenchange charisma starbursts, and trust that everything would fall into place. The result: Copenhagen, ObamaCare, and a 48 percent approval rating.

More fun from Illinois, the future home of Gitmo north:

US Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin told commissioners that, upon its elevation to “Super Max” status, the facility will be comparable to the federal prison in Florence, Colo., where, he said, “there’s never been an escape or an internal attack.”

But some were not convinced. “How are you sure Al Qaeda will not use Thompson in the future as a recruiting tool?” asked state Sen. Matt Murphy (R). During a break in the hearings, he added to reporters: “No one has given us a clear indication of what this will do from a security standpoint. Right now we’re being told there is minimal risk … I kind of feel the state of Illinois is being rolled.”…

Outside the proceedings, peopled continued to voice their doubts. “This is a national security issue for our country. These terrorists, they’re ruthless,” said Stacey Mathia, who made the journey to Sterling from Bay City, Mich. “They want their people out. We don’t want them on our soil.”

Exit question: Why try to deny jihadis a propaganda point by closing Gitmo when you’ve just handed them a much bigger propaganda point by ramping up in Afghanistan? As repulsive as I would have regarded a pullout, it would have at least been logically consistent with a general “let’s not piss them off” approach. Instead, to his credit, he flipped them the bird — but meanwhile he’s still scrambling to shutter the prison. Does anyone think this guy would care at all if Gitmo stayed open if his nutroots base didn’t whine about it periodically?

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