U.S. administration encounters difficulties in effort to end Guantanamo Bay detentions.

At the beginning of his administration, President Barack Obama issued an executive order directing that detentions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, end within a year. (1) This process has proved to be complex and difficult. Influential U.S. congressional and local leaders have resisted transferring detainees to the United States, and polls indicate that most Americans oppose ending detentions at Guantanamo. (2) Administration officials also are wrestling with how to deal with detainees thought to have committed criminal offenses, but where important evidence is classified or where the defendants' past statements may have been tainted by their treatment while detained.

President Sees Five Categories of Detainees. In a May speech, President Obama sought to respond to questions and criticisms regar...

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