Closing down the American prison at Guantánamo Bay is proving more difficult than initially anticipated, but so far the success has been mixed for the Obama Administration, with both disappointments and victories for the plan in the past week alone. The latest of blows to the White House’s efforts to move detainees from Guantánamo came this week when the Canadian government flatly rejected calls to take 17 Uighurs, Chinese Muslims, cleared for release from the prison. Kory Teneycke, spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told the Associated Free Press that “Canada is not looking to take any detainees from Guantánamo…In the case of the Uighurs and other Guantanamo Bay detainees Canada has no interest.” The lack of interest in taking in detainees has proven troublesome for the Obama Administration. The Uighur case is widely considered a mess inherited by the new President but with seemingly few prospects for a quick solution. Indeed, American lawmakers have likely made a solution seem even farther away. Mark Kersten reports.
