Guantanamo Reality

News reports indicate that Barack Obama plans to announce an executive order to close the Guantanamo detention facility, but that it may take up to a year to implement.

While this is seemingly a break with Bush administration policy, there is less to it than it appears.

The number of detainees has decreased significantly in recent years from over 700 to 250 as some are released or returned for detention in their home countries. The Bush administration has been stymied in releasing more detainees, since many countries, despite their public criticism of Guantanamo, refuse to take back their citizens.

In other words, the Bush administration is doing quietly what Barack Obama will loudly proclaim.

I have a feeling some of Obama's "change" will look like a break with the past, but in reality, be of little or no substantive difference.