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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