I'm not sorry to say that I'm glad this is NOT gonna take place in my backyard - and if you think closing down Gitmo Bay prison is the thing to do, then good - you take the prisoners and then try them in YOUR courts! This is the stupidest thing this country could do - but then we do have stupid people caring about the rights of killers who would just as soon slit their own daughters throats (HONOR killing) if they even dare to look at another man thru those rags they are forced to wear and on and on and on! Those prisoners should get the same care they give OUR BOYS when OUR BOYS are captured! They get their heads cut off! I bet many of you also feel that way but are afraid to say so - it just might OFFEND certain people!
But even I know that 'off with their heads' will never happen in this country - we really are stupid but we make up for it by being civilized!
All this is going to do is cost the American taxpayer more money to hire lawyers and staff to defend these people - along with feeding and clothing those bums! And I won't even go into the 'where would they be released' problem IF the courts say they MUST BE released! Just keep them OUT OF MY STATE!
Another nightmare in the making??????
You betcha, dear friends!
Hattie!
---------------------------------------
Federal Courts in Va., N.Y. May Take Some Guantanamo Cases
By Peter Finn and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, March 7, 2009; A05
Federal authorities have finished compiling detailed electronic dossiers on 241 detainees who remain in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and interagency review teams have begun studying the individual files. The process could see some suspects transferred to federal courts, possibly in Northern Virginia and New York City, the jurisdictions where the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks occurred, according to Justice Department officials.
The specter of Guantanamo Bay inmates such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, moving to federal detention centers in Alexandria, Manhattan or elsewhere to await trial is likely to stir political controversy. Legislators nationwide have lined up to say they do not want detainees in their city or state.
"We can say that [a] person can be charged either in the Eastern District of Virginia or the Southern District of New York," said a senior Justice Department official involved in the process. "But ultimately . . . that decision then has to be approved, because every indictment has to be approved by the [assistant attorney general] for national security."
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) told Washington Post reporters and editors recently that no one in the federal government had raised the issue of Guantanamo Bay detainees with him and that Defense Department facilities may be the most appropriate location for such prisoners.
"There are more DOD military installations that have high-security spaces on those bases than most Americans know," he said. But the Justice Department official said that "presumably . . . once they are indicted they are going to be in that district like any other criminal defendant."
Both the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of New York, however, have successfully held and prosecuted major terrorism suspects, including four men convicted in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa, American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and Zacarias Moussaoui, the only suspect convicted in the United States in connection with the 9/11 attacks. All six are serving their sentences at a federal "supermax" prison in Colorado.
"If there's a decision to prosecute an individual detainee in federal court, then there'll be a decision made on which judicial district is most appropriate. But at this time it's far too early to speculate on which districts might involve such prosecutions, given that the review is pending," Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said.
Teams of eight to 10 officials from the departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security and Justice, as well as agencies such as the CIA and the FBI, are studying the electronic files, which contain everything from raw CIA cables to finished intelligence reports, Justice officials said.
Team recommendations will go to a review board consisting of senior officials from various departments. If the board cannot reach consensus, Cabinet members will decide the final adjudication of disputed cases.
The review teams will recommend whether to prosecute inmates in federal court, transfer them home or to third countries, or possibly resettle some of them in the United States. In January, President Obama ordered the Guantanamo Bay prison closed within in a year.
Some European countries have said they will consider resettling some detainees, and they expect the Obama administration to do the same.
Among those who could be moved to the United States are 17 Chinese Uighurs captured in Afghanistan who are awaiting release from Guantanamo Bay. The Bush administration acknowledged that the Uighurs are not enemy combatants.
A senior Justice Department official said that the preference of officials is to try in federal court those detainees who cannot be released.
"Where we have terrorism suspects and we have ways to prosecute them, we should do so," the official said. "I believe in the viability of our federal courts."
Officials from the U.S. Marshals Service visited the prison in Cuba recently, an indication that planning has begun for the transfer of some detainees to the United States.
"This was a fact-finding and not an operational visit," said Jeff Carter, a spokesman for the Marshals Service.
Justice Department officials also said that they have not ruled out the possibility that the new administration may create a new system of detention for cases where there is not enough evidence to prosecute someone in the regular courts, but the suspect is deemed too dangerous to release.
Justice Department officials said the review teams included people who have been involved with detainee issues in Guantanamo Bay and some who have no previous experience with the controversial prison and the system of military commissions set up by the Bush administration.
Review teams will not have the time or resources to do intense, extended re-investigation of cases themselves, but they may recommend that investigators seek out key pieces of evidence or witnesses. Any criminal cases filed in U.S. courts could be complicated by harsh interrogation tactics employed by the CIA against some detainees, practices that human rights groups have condemned as torture. The FBI previously dispatched "clean teams" to perform fresh interviews and investigations after the disclosure of coercive interrogations but defense lawyers are likely to argue that harsh interrogations tainted any possible criminal case.
Directing the day to day effort at Justice will be Guantanamo Detainee Review Task Force Executive Director Matthew G. Olsen, a career federal prosecutor with experience handling criminal trials, as well as national security and intelligence issues.
"He's got a background with the ideal blend of strong prosecutorial credentials as well as an in-depth understanding of the intelligence community and intelligence operations, particularly as it relates to counterterrorism," said Kenneth L. Wainstein, who was a homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush and a Justice Department official who oversaw national security.
Olsen had no direct involvement with Guantanamo Bay issues before his appointment as head of the review task force, Justice Department officials said.
Staff researcher Julie Tate and staff writers Jerry Markon and Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.
Home 
