Bravado in Za House

The NYT had a marvellous article condemning the Afghan air strike; I can't find it right now but it came out today was two pages. If I find it, I'll post it.

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday ordered President Obama to provide a detailed plan for closing the American military detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and said no money would be authorized for closing the prison until such a plan had been reviewed by Congress.

The directive came as the Obama administration is expected to announce plans on Friday to revamp military commission trials for some of the detainees at the prison, a senior administration official said Thursday night.

The new tribunals would give defendants more rights than they had under the plans drawn up by the Bush administration, but would stop short of granting the full array of legal protections afforded to defendants in civilian courts.

The House directive was part of a $96.7 billion emergency financing measure for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the House approved by a vote of 368 to 60, with 168 Republicans joining the Democratic majority in support.

But in a clear rebuke to Mr. Obama, Democratic leaders refused to include the $80 million that the White House had sought for closing the Guantánamo center. On his third day in office, Mr. Obama signed an executive order requiring that the camp be shut by Jan. 22, 2010.

In a sign of the growing discomfort among Democrats over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other national security issues, 59 Democrats voted against the war-spending measure, refusing to support it even without the money for closing the Guantánamo prison.

In place of the requested money, Democrats added their demand for a plan to close the camp. “The president shall submit to Congress, in writing, a comprehensive plan regarding the proposed disposition of each individual who is detained as of April 30, 2009, at Naval Station,” the bill states. It also requires “the findings of an analysis regarding any risk to the national security of the United States that is posed by the transfer of the individual.”

In a sign of growing concern that there are now little more than eight months until Mr. Obama’s Jan. 22 deadline, Senate Democrats, too, said the administration must provide a detailed plan for relocating the more than 200 detainees still being held at the base in Cuba.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to approve its version of the military spending bill on Thursday, and included the $80 million but with tight restrictions that ban the transfer of terrorism detainees to the United States from Guantánamo.

Republicans who have drawn increasing attention to the challenges around closing the prison said the directives included in the war-spending bills were an acknowledgment by Democrats that Mr. Obama had failed so far to offer a concrete solution to the tricky question of where to put the detainees after Guantánamo closes.

Foreign nations have been reluctant to accept detainees in large numbers. And many lawmakers say the prisoners should not be moved to American jails.

The issue has opened a rare split between Mr. Obama and the Democratic majorities in Congress who have otherwise supported him at virtually every turn.