By Mike McCarthy Jan 15, 2009, 2:23 GMT
Washington - US president-elect Barack Obama has made it clear that one of his top priorities after taking office will be closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but he'll have to overcome a series of obstacles to get the job done.
Shutting the prison, now holding about 250 suspects in the war on terrorism, involves a host of complex national security and legal issues that make it unlikely Guantanamo will be a thing of the past anytime soon.
Closing the notorious camp has been the cornerstone of Obama's plans to rebuild America's image and moral standing in the world.
According to media reports in the United States citing officials in the Obama transition team, the new president could issue an executive order to begin the process as soon as Wednesday, his first full day in office after Tuesday's inauguration.
Obama himself has cautioned that resolving the tricky issues surrounding Guantanamo could take some time. In an interview with ABC News, Obama said he remains committed to shuttering the detention centre, but that doing so in his first 100 days in office will be 'challenging.'
'It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize,' he said.
Obama has said he will order a review of all of the cases. Then, his administration will decide who should be released and who should be tried, and then figure out how to do it.
The Pentagon has identified 60 inmates as candidates to be transferred to to their home governments or third countries, but have been unable to find governments willing to take them or provide assurances they will not be mistreated. Among them are 17 Chinese Muslim Uighurs, whom the Pentagon believes are no longer a threat but does not want to return to Beijing over fears of retribution.
There are 22 detainees who have been charged with crimes, including the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four co-conspirators. Mohammed has told the military tribunal that he wants to be executed to fulfill his wish for martyrdom.
Army Major Jon Jackson, a US government-appointed lawyer for Mustafa al-Hawsawi, one of the alleged 9/11 conspirators, welcomed Obama's apparent plans to move quickly to close Guantanamo.
'President-elect Obama's anticipated decision to close Guantanamo Bay's prison facility is the first step in restoring the United States' moral standing in the world community,' Jackson said in an email to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Obama has not indicated whether he would prefer to stick with military trials or transfer the cases to federal courts, where the defendants would have greater legal rights and would be more able to challenge evidence.
Even if the evidence is weak or was acquired though abuse or torture, the defendants could still be a security threat, Obama has acknowledged.
'Part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous, who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted, even though it's true,' Obama told ABC.
'And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo-American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn't result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.'
Human-rights groups have been clamouring for Obama to move quickly on Guantanamo, some even calling for a deadline.
Human Rights Watch believes Obama should immediately begin reviewing the cases, and that any trials should take place in federal courts. Others should be either transferred to their home countries or resettled elsewhere.
'Closing Guantanamo is not easy, and nobody expects all of these detainees to be moved out by January 21,' Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch said. 'The key is to begin the process of reviewing their files.'
Dozens of countries have already turned down requests from departing US President George W Bush's government to take custody of detainees. Daskal said that Obama could gain diplomatic leverage with those countries if he set an example by settling some of them - perhaps the Uighurs - in the United States.
Obama would have to cope with the possibility that released detainees could return to the battlefields of Afghanistan or Iraq, or join plots to carry out terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies.
The Pentagon said Tuesday that it counts 61 former Guantanamo detainees who are either known or suspected of having gone back to militancy and terrorism. Spokesman Geoff Morrell said that intelligence officials have confirmed that 18 have resumed terrorist activities and another 43 are 'suspected of returning to the fight.'
The Defence Department has begun reviewing ways to close Guantanamo in anticipation of the change in policy and has been in close consultations with Obama aides on the process, Morrell said.
'There, clearly, are people who are being held at Guantanamo who are still bent on doing harm to America - Americans and our allies,' Morrell said. 'And that is among the thorny issues that the president-elect and his new team are carefully considering.'
Meanwhile, the tribunals for terrorism suspects are set to continue this month unless Obama suspends the proceedings. Mohammed and the other 9/11 conspirators are due to appear Monday in a Guantanamo courtroom for pre-trial motions.
The trial of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen suspected of lobbing a grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, is scheduled for January 26. Khadr's case has sparked strong criticism because he was 15 years old when the alleged slaying took place. Known as the 'child soldier,' he has been at Guantanamo since he was 16 and is now 22.
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