Obama administration delays Gitmo closure plan

The Obama administration has decided to hold off on releasing a plan to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The decision not to release the plan — which lawmakers had expected as early as last week — was triggered by financial concerns and was made before Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, said a Pentagon official involved in the discussions.

The optics of proceeding with a plan to close the prison camp got uglier after Paris: Republicans, who are now trying to bar Syrian refugees from being let in the United States due to fears spawned by the bloodshed, would likely be even more intense in opposing the closure of the facility often called “Gitmo.”

The prison, opened in early 2002 to house Al-Qaeda and other terrorist suspects, holds 107 inmates now. Many are slated to be sent to other countries and some will face military trials. Dozens, however, fall in a third category: the administration doesn’t have the evidence or will to prosecute them but it has decided they are too dangerous to release.