Push to close Guantanamo remains strong (Twitpic/DunyaTV)

The bill in question authorizes President Obama to come up with a detailed plan to close Guantánamo and transfer the 154 detainees there to secure prisons in the United States. The president’s plan would have to specify who would be charged, where they would be tried and what security arrangements would be put enacted. 

Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin, worked with his committee to craft a bill that would provide political protection for both Democrats and Republicans. 

The bill offers an expedited route for Congress to pass a joint resolution disapproving of the President’s plan—if they so desire—to blocking it. In such a cause, the Senate would need supermajority of 67 votes would be needed to stop closure by overruling an Obama veto of the resolution. 

Despite such evident progress, on Friday top Senate Republicans vowed to do all they can to keep the Guantanamo facility open and the 154 detainees incarcerated.

In the meantime, however, federal judge, Gladys Kessler has temporarily lifted a restraining order, thereby allowing U.S. military to force feeding a hunger-striking prisoner at Guantanamo Bay naval base.

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