Guantanamo detainees cleared for release but left in limbo

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Source: Wash. Post

The Obama administration in 2009 cleared 126 detainees for transfer out of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. As they began flying off, to either their home nations or others for resettlement, a sense of optimism pulsed through the camps.

But those releases have ground to a halt because of congressional restrictions and decisions by President Obama that have left dozens of detainees in limbo. The executive branch told them they would leave; the legislative branch has blocked their movement.

That is the curious backdrop as the administration prepares to restart military commission proceedings Wednesday with a case against an al-Qaeda member — one of three detainees waterboarded in CIA custody — accused of plotting the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.

“It’s beyond frustrating. There’s a kind of hopelessness and cruelty,” said Cori Crider, a lawyer for the London-based charity Reprieve, which represents a number of detainees.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/guantanamo-detainees-cleared-for-release-but-left-in-limbo/2011/11/03/gIQAJivM3M_singlePage.html