President Barack Obama won a modest victory Tuesday in his continuing effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and allowing the government to continue to transfer detainees to the United States for prosecution. The plan to permit terror suspects held at the facility to be shipped to U.S. soil to face trial passed the U.S. Senate by a 79-19 vote as part of a larger $44.1 billion budget bill for the Homeland Security Department.
The measure already passed the House of Representatives and now goes to Obama to be signed into law. The Guantanamo provision generally tracks restrictions already in place that block release of detainees in the United States but permits them to be tried here. In January, Obama ordered the facility closed within a year, but the administration has yet to deliver a plan and the effort has hit several roadblocks. Among the main problems was unease among Obama's Democratic allies in Congress who have refused to approve money for the effort. "Guantanamo must be closed because it's become a recruiting tool for al-Qaida and other terrorists," countered the second-ranking Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin.

Hürriyet.