Week of February 2, 2009

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Guantanamo will be shut down, but the question of what to do with the prisoners remains unsolved.

The order signed by President Obama calls for the Guantanamo prison to be closed within one year. Why do you think the president allowed for this much time before it closes? One likely reason has to do with the question you see here. In order to close Guantanamo prison, the Obama administration must figure out what to do with the remaining 250 inmates. The U.S. government says they want to charge 80 of those inmates with terrorist activities. The government says 50 other inmates can be released without charges. But those 50 cannot be returned to their home countries because they might be imprisoned or tortured if they return there. The U.S. government is looking for other countries to take these people in. So far, only one country, Albania, has done so. Why do you think more countries haven't volunteered yet? What responsibility does the U.S. government have to these prisoners after holding them for years?

That still leaves many prisoners with an uncertain future. Some are children. Some inmates are believed to have been tortured in order to get confessions from them. And some are believed to be dangerous or guilty of terrorist activities. President Obama says the government will look at each case before deciding what to do. One possibility is putting them on trial in U.S. courts. But some critics fear that this could allow dangerous people to go free. And some U.S. prisons say they don't want to keep possible terrorists in their prisons. Why do you think they feel this way? What do you think should be done with the remaining prisoners?

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