Editorial: Politics Gets In The Way of Closing Guantanamo

The Washington Post has an editorial arguing that some progress has finally been made on closing Guantanamo. The Post writes that the Senate voted this month "to preserve language in the pending National Defense Authorization Act that would ease restrictions on repatriating Guantanamo detainees and allow their transfer to the United States for trial, detention or medical treatment." However, The Post reports that the defense bill is in danger of not passing for the first time in 51 years.

Overall, "a legal regime will be needed for the arrest, interrogation and long-term detention of foreign terrorist suspects who cannot be handled by the domestic U.S. justice system" after Guantanamo is closed, The Post concludes.