Just 15 men remain at the prison, down from hundreds when it opened 23 years ago. But the costly operation could go on for years.
The Pentagon’s detention operation at Guantánamo once held hundreds of men who were captured by U.S. forces and their allies in the war against terrorism. Now there are just 15 prisoners as the prison enters its 24th year.
President George W. Bush opened and filled it. President Barack Obama tried to close it but couldn’t. President Donald J. Trump said he would load it up with “bad dudes” and didn’t. And President Biden said he wanted to finish the job Mr. Obama started but will not be able to do it.
Unless Congress lifts a ban on the transfer of Guantánamo prisoners to U.S. soil, the costly offshore operation could go on for years, until the last detainee dies.
Who Is at Guantánamo Now?
The 15 remaining prisoners range in age from 45 to 63. They are from Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. One is a stateless Rohingya, another is Palestinian.
All but three were transferred to Guantánamo from the C.I.A.’s secret overseas prison network, where the Bush administration hid people it considered the “worst of the worst” until 2006.
Five are defendants in the Sept. 11 case, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is accused of planning the attacks. One is a Saudi man accused of orchestrating the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors. These are capital cases that have never reached trial.
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