Guantanamo inmates watch US presidential debate
This picture shows a shadow of a US soldier next to a placard on a fence at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Among the millions of people watching the US presidential debate on television last night were inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, Reuters reported today.
Miami Herald journalist Carol Rosenberg tweeted that “two blocks of cooperative captives watched last night’s Obama-Romney debate on TV, third listened by radio.”
But if the prisoners were hoping for a mention during the third and final debate between President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, they would have been sorely disappointed.
More from GlobalPost: Horses and bayonets, 1980s calling: Obama, Romney time-travel in final debate on foreign policy
Despite the debate’s focus on foreign affairs, Guantanamo Bay was not mentioned once, according to the Washington Post.
Obama was probably glad the subject didn’t come up.
He had promised to close the controversial facility at the US Naval base in eastern Cuba when he won the 2008 presidential election.
But four years later 166 prisoners remain in the detention center, including the alleged masterminds of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Obama camp has vowed to make good on its long-overdue promise to close the facility, though they haven't said when that would happen.
More from GlobalPost: Counterterrorism: Obama and Romney on drones, Guantanamo and Al Qaeda