GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba: Guantanamo’s commander believes that the prison on this base won’t close anytime soon after President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Rear Adm. David Thomas said he expects “rigorous debate” in America before the 250 detainees are flown out, pouring cold water on speculation that the military’s offshore prison might close within days after Obama is sworn in on Jan. 20. “The hard part, the important part to get ready is where you’re going to put the detainees, and the legal process that you intend to use to continue any sort of prosecution or resolution of their cases,” Thomas told reporters Tuesday night. “The easy part is taking them from JTF-Guantanamo and putting them on an airplane.
The chances of the military completing another war-crimes trial at Guantanamo before Obama takes office were all but eliminated on Wednesday, however, as a judge suspended proceedings against a detainee whose case had been set for early January. Army Col. Stephen Henley indefinitely delayed the case against Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan whose trial was the last one scheduled before President George W. Bush leaves office.
Jawad faces charges including attempted murder for allegedly throwing a grenade that injured two US soldiers and their interpreter in Kabul in 2002. Obama has said he opposes the tribunal system, raising doubt that any trials will take place at Guantanamo after he takes office.
Thomas, who took command six months ago of the Joint Task Force that runs the prison camps, said no member of Obama’s transition team has visited the base or is scheduled to do so.
He said the decisions on where to put the detainees and how to try them if Guantanamo is closed “will be made after, I’m certain, rigorous debate back in the US.”
“When there is an order to close it, we will close it,” Thomas said.
Meanwhile, two dozen family members of the Sept. 11 victims signed a letter Wednesday saying they don’t believe in the fairness of the military trials of five men charged with orchestrating the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Some suggested their opinions cost them attendance at the proceedings. While the family members who attended this week’s proceedings at the base expressed support for the tribunals, they also said, “that many of us do not believe these tribunals to be fair, in accordance with American values, or capable of achieving the justice that 9/11 family members and all Americans deserve.” This was in the letter released by the American Civil Liberties Union.
