Did you really think they'd shut the Guantánamo Bay prison down? You're so sweet. Bob Gates kinda did, too, only then he got that job as Defense Secretary and found out that the wheels of "justice" turn slower than an elderly gerbil on a really, really heavy wheel.

There are currently about 300 detainees at Guantánamo, 80 of whom the military would like to bring in front of tribunals but, since the system is so fucked up, they can't quite manage to get that worked out. Another 70 they're happy to release but, um, well, those European countries that want us to shut the prison down and stop rendering people into torturific countries? Yeah, they don't want our detainees, thanks very much, they just don't want us to have them either.

Gates has been trying to find a way to close Guantánamo, but is running into problems from administration lawyers, like how to otherwise justify keeping 150 detainees (that we've decided are too dangerous to be let out) in permanent custody on American soil without trials or anything. So tricksy, that Constitution! Also, Big Dick Cheney doesn't wanna let them come in at all because they'd probably be afforded some kind of legal rights, which are too good for those scum-sucking terrorist types, even if we did figure out a way to hold them until they die of old age or we can execute them.

So, yeah, just figure on Guantánamo being open through the Jenna Bush Administration at a minimum. Sorry, terrorists!

Hopes dim for closure of Guantánamo [Financial Times]