Guantanamo: The Next Rebellion President Obama Faces From Democrats?

Dec. 10, 2010— -- As extension of tax cuts pits Democrats against the White House, President Obama is facing another rebellion from House Democrats -- who slipped a provision into the federal funding bill this week barring alleged terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay from being moved to U.S. prisons.

Guantanamo has been a sore point for Democrats and Republicans; Obama signed an executive order 21 months ago -- one of his first as commander-in-chief -- to shut it down. His plan to have detainees move to federal prisons has taken much heat from both sides of the political aisle.

The president's plan this week also received another blow in the form of a report by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, which said "the number of former detainees identified as reengaged in terrorist or insurgent activity will increase."

Of the 598 detainees who have been released, the DNI report found that 81 of them, or 13.5 percent, are confirmed and 69, or 11.5 percent, are suspected of reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities. Of the 66 former Guantanamo detainees transferred since Obama took office, "2 are confirmed and 3 are suspected of reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities."

The White House insists that closing the Guantanamo Bay detainee center is a "national security imperative," but the latest move by the House, amid the background of Clapper's report, does not bode well for the president's agenda.

"It could have quite a significant impact on his ability to close Guantanamo," said Matthew Waxman, an associate professor of law at Columbia University and an expert in national security law. "Since the beginning of this administration, there's been some progress in reducing the number of detainees at Guantanamo, but at the same time, the president has been losing ground legislatively on the issue in that Congress has been imposing greater and greater restriction on the ... type of flexibility which is needed to deal with this problem."

The House language specifically bars any federal funding from being used to transfer or release to the United States Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other Guantanamo Bay detainee who is not a U.S. citizen or member of the U.S. armed forces. It also prevents the Department of Justice from acquiring a facility to be used for holding a detainee.

The ban on detainee transfer would apply until Sept. 30.