US President Barack Obama has been wanting to shut down the US prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba but there is no money for it. A budget of $80 million is needed for the shutdown. US lawmakers denied this needed funding. It seems that politics got in the way of popular sentiment.

Obama is being criticized for the supposedly ‘hasty decision to close the base.’ There might be a lot of truth to this thought as Obama has not decided where all of the present detainees will each be transferred. There is a clamor with regards to the need for ‘a clear policy on the treatment, status and eventual destination of terror suspects.’

The basic worry is strongly expressed as the fear of the plans that some terror suspects will be transferred to other military installations or penal institutions within the United States. This is the part that scares some of the people in government.

“The American people don’t want these men walking the streets of America’s neighborhoods,” Senator John Thune said. “The American people don’t want these detainees held at a military base or federal prison in their backyard, either.”

“We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States,” said Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, who wants a ‘comprehensive, responsible plan from the White House for closing Guantanamo.’

For his part, FBI Director Robert Mueller also has qualms about the hotly-debated concern, even if the Guantanamo detainees were held in maximum-security prisons.

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Via TIMES ONLINE