Guantanamo Bay may stay open until 2011

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's commitment to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by next month may be delayed until 2011 because it will take months for the government to buy an Illinois prison and upgrade it to hold suspected terrorists.

The drawn-out construction timetable shows the political risk of Obama's pledge, a delay that could even be extended by congressional opposition to funding the purchase and upgrades for the Thomson Correctional Center, an underused state facility about 150 miles west of Chicago.

Lawmakers in both parties have been wary of bringing detainees to the United States. Attorney General Eric Holder already has decided that self-declared 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others will be tried in federal court in New York City.

In the Senate, a spokesman for Republican leader Mitch McConnell promised that the GOP would use delaying tactics to prevent funding the Illinois facility and added that he expected support from Democrats.

"I think there will be bipartisan opposition" to bringing detainees to Illinois, Donald Stewart said.

Congress also needs to change a law prohibiting detention in the U.S. of detainees who are not awaiting trial.

The prison in rural western Illinois may not be purchased from the state until March and will need up to 10 months of construction, said Joe Shoemaker, spokesman for Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Shoemaker said, "The end of 2010 or the start of 2011 has always been the mark the administration talked to us about."

Obama originally said Guantanamo would close Jan. 22, 2010. While that date proved unrealistic, the president has directed administration officials to move quickly to acquire the maximum-security prison in Illinois.

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt on Wednesday would not say when Guantanamo would close.

"The president remains as committed today to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo as he was when he entered office, and substantial progress has been made in recent weeks," LaBolt told The Associated Press. "The detainee population at Guantanamo is now smaller than it has been at any time since 2002."

"We will work with Congress to ensure that we secure the necessary funds to purchase and upgrade the Thomson prison — which will operate at a substantially lower cost to taxpayers — next year," he said.