Senate Democrats want Gitmo inmates kept out of US

[babylonsister]

Senate Democrats want Gitmo inmates kept out of US

By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- New legislation by Senate Democrats would fund the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but it would block the transfer of any of the detainees to the United States.

The move to sidestep a political minefield is a rebuff to President Barack Obama, whose promise to close the Guantanamo facility within a year of taking office has run into Republicans and Democrats opposed to bringing accused terrorists onto U.S. shores.

The development comes as the full House and a key Senate panel are poised to advance Obama's $85 billion request for military and diplomatic efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a request that has swelled by another $5 billion to reflect the cost of new U.S. contributions to the International Monetary Fund.

The request for $50 million to close Guantanamo and transfer its detainees elsewhere has attracted much controversy, occupying many lawmakers - especially Republicans - even as other lawmakers voice growing worries about the chances of defeating al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The administration has yet to produce a plan for what to do with the approximately 240 Guantanamo detainees, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that between 50 and 100 would end up in U.S. facilities.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_GUANTANAMO?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[ihavenobias]

1. (Sigh)

In other words, these weaklings have once again .

[billyoc]

2. They know we'll never be able to return to the rule of law.

Presented with the lack of evidence and due process, the brutality of the torture that they endured and the length of time that they've been held incommunicado, no U.S. court would be able to do anything but release them all immediately.

They'd also have to release them in the U.S., where the hell else are they going to go?

Ever single one of those lost souls' fate was sealed years ago.

[BeFree]

4. That's awful

"Ever single one of those lost souls' fate was sealed years ago."

Damn Cheney. If we could I say we build a big house right next to Dick's and let them live there.

Can they ever go home?

America's name has been shamed by Bushco, damn them.

[opihimoimoi]

3. As in THE MAN WITH NO COUNTRY....Keep um on ships forever...brig to brig its called...

[stillcool]

5. Paying foreign governments to accept them....

unless they are judged to be guilty..then they can stay in our jails.

But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, on Wednesday circulated an approximately $91.5 billion measure that includes $50 million to shutter Guantanamo and move its prisoners - with the proviso that they can't be sent to the United States. The Senate bill appears to favor paying foreign governments to accept the prisoners.

It's by no means certain that other countries will prove willing to accept many Guantanamo detainees, especially if the United States is unwilling.

House Democratic leaders weighed in Wednesday with a plan that would block any release of Guantanamo detainees within the United States but that would allow them to be shipped to the U.S. to stand trial or to serve their sentences.