Here is a bit more on the Guantanamo story
The Associated Press
Friday, June 22, 2007
US May Move Detainees to Afghan Prison
By DEB RIECHMANN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, June 22 (AP) — The United States is helping build a prison
in Afghanistan that would take some prisoners now at Guantanamo Bay,
but the White House said Friday that it was not meant as an alternative
to the detainee facility in Cuba.
The Bush administration wants to close Guantanamo Bay and move its terror
suspects to prisons elsewhere, but says no decision about the status of
the facility is imminent. White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino
said the United States has released about 80 of some 375 detainees,
and hopes to transfer several dozen Afghans back to Afghanistan in the
near future.
“America does not have any intention of being the world’s jailer,”
Perino said, adding that the administration wants other nations to
take their prisoners back, and treat them humanely, but not let them
back on the battlefield.
She said President Bush has directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
to work with her counterparts around the world to try to repatriate the
detainees to their home countries, make sure that they are held safely
and treated humanely and that they are not allowed to perpetrate acts
of terrorism.
The Guantanamo Bay prison, set up in 2002 to house terror suspects
captured in military operations, mostly in Afghanistan, has been a
flashpoint for criticism of the Bush administration at home and abroad.
Human rights advocates and foreign leaders have repeatedly called for
the shutdown of Guantanamo, and the prison is regarded by many as proof
of U.S. double standards on fundamental freedoms in the war on terrorism.
Some of the detainees come from countries that are U.S. allies,
including Britain, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Each of those governments
raised complaints about the conditions or duration of detentions, or
about the possibility that detainees might face death sentences.
Senior administration officials said Thursday that a consensus is
building for a plan to shut the detention center and transfer detainees to
one of more Defense Department facilities, including the maximum-security
military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Perino would not comment on
whether detainees were headed to Kansas.
Bush’s national security and legal advisers had been scheduled to discuss
the move at a meeting Friday, the officials said, but after The Associated
Press reported it, the White House said the meeting would not take place
that day and no decision on Guantanamo Bay’s status is imminent.
Three senior administration officials spoke about the discussions
on condition of anonymity because they were internal deliberations.
Perino said the meeting was canceled “very late” on Thursday because
it was determined that a “meeting wasn’t necessary at this time.”
“There was going to be a meeting in which Guantanamo detainee issues
were discussed today, but that has been taken off the schedule,”
Perino said Friday. “That doesn’t mean that people don’t continue
to work on what the president has asked them to do, which is work
towards getting that facility closed.”
Expected to consult soon, according to the officials, were Rice,
Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff,
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman Gen. Peter Pace.
