Obama plans Guantanamo closure, US terror trials
By MATT APUZZO and LARA JAKES JORDAN - 6 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a
proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to
the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his
promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a
controversial new system of justice.
During his campaign, Obama described Guantanamo as a "sad chapter in American
history" and has said generally that the U.S. legal system is equipped to
handle the detainees. But he has offered few details on what he planned to do
once the facility is closed.
Under plans being put together in Obama's camp, some detainees would be
released and many others would be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts.
A third group of detainees - the ones whose cases are most entangled in highly
classified information - might have to go before a new court designed
especially to handle sensitive national security cases, according to advisers
and Democrats involved in the talks. Advisers participating directly in the
planning spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans aren't final.
The move would be a sharp deviation from the Bush administration, which
established military tribunals to prosecute detainees at the Navy base in Cuba
and strongly opposes bringing prisoners to the United States. Obama's
Republican challenger, John McCain, had also pledged to close Guantanamo. But
McCain opposed criminal trials, saying the Bush administration's tribunals
should continue on U.S. soil.
The plan being developed by Obama's team has been championed by legal scholars
from both political parties. But it is almost certain to face opposition from
Republicans who oppose bringing terrorism suspects to the U.S. and from
Democrats who oppose creating a new court system with fewer rights for
detainees.
The plan drew criticism from some detainee lawyers shortly after it surfaced
Monday.
"I think that creating a new alternative court system in response to the abject
failure of Guantanamo would be a profound mistake," said Jonathan Hafetz, an
American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represents detainees. "We do not
need a new court system. The last eight years are a testament to the problems
of trying to create new systems."
Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor and Obama legal adviser, said
discussions about plans for Guantanamo had been "theoretical" before the
election but would quickly become very focused because closing the prison is a
top priority. Bringing the detainees to the United States will be
controversial, he said, but could be accomplished.
"I think the answer is going to be, they can be as securely guarded on U.S.
soil as anywhere else," Tribe said. "We can't put people in a dungeon forever
without processing whether they deserve to be there."
The tougher challenge will be allaying fears by Democrats who believe the Bush
administration's military commissions were a farce and dislike the idea of
giving detainees anything less than the full constitutional rights normally
enjoyed by everyone on U.S. soil.
"There would be concern about establishing a completely new system," said Rep.
Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the House Judiciary Committee and former
federal prosecutor who is aware of the discussions in the Obama camp. "And in
the sense that establishing a regimen of detention that includes American
citizens and foreign nationals that takes place on U.S. soil and departs from
the criminal justice system - trying to establish that would be very difficult."
Obama has said the civilian and military court-martial systems provide "a
framework for dealing with the terrorists," and Tribe said the administration
would look to those venues before creating a new legal system. But discussions
of what a new system would look like have already started.
"It would have to be some sort of hybrid that involves military commissions
that actually administer justice rather than just serve as kangaroo courts,"
Tribe said. "It will have to both be and appear to be fundamentally fair in
light of the circumstances. I think people are going to give an Obama
administration the benefit of the doubt in that regard."
Though a hybrid court may be unpopular, other advisers and Democrats involved
in the Guantanamo Bay discussions say Obama has few other options.
Prosecuting all detainees in federal courts raises a host of problems. Evidence
gathered through military interrogation or from intelligence sources might be
thrown out. Defendants would have the right to confront witnesses, meaning
undercover CIA officers or terrorist turncoats might have to take the stand,
jeopardizing their cover and revealing classified intelligence tactics.
But Tribe said the current military commission system represents a "nonstarter"
and other advisers agreed. With lax evidence rules and intense secrecy, the
commissions have been criticized by human rights groups, defense attorneys and
even some military prosecutors who quit in protest.
"I don't think we need to completely reinvent the wheel, but we need a better
tribunal process that is more transparent," Schiff said.
That means something different would need to be done if detainees couldn't be
released or prosecuted in traditional courts. Exactly what that something would
look like remains unclear.
According to three advisers participating in the process, Obama is expected to
propose a new court system, appointing a committee to decide how such a court
would operate. Some detainees likely would be returned to the countries where
they were first captured for further detention or rehabilitation. The rest
could probably be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts, one adviser said. All
spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks, which have been
private.
Waleed Alshahari, who has been following Guantanamo issues for the Yemeni
Embassy in Washington, said the plan being discussed by the Obama team was an
improvement over the current system. But he said he expects most detainees to
be released rather than stand trial.
"If the U.S. government has any evidence against them, they would try them and
put them in jail," Alshahari said. "But it has been obvious they have nothing
against them. That is why they have not faced trial."
With more than 90 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo, the country is home to the
largest group of prisoners. The U.S. and Yemen have negotiated but failed to
reach a deal on a prisoner release.
Whatever form Obama's plan finally takes, Tribe said the next president would
move quickly.
"In reality and symbolically, the idea that we have people in legal black holes
is an extremely serious black mark," Tribe said. "It has to be dealt with."
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"_______________________________________________
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