US Won't Release 50-100 Gitmo Detainees: Gates

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities began what will be hotly contested discussions this week on where in the U.S. to send Guantanamo detainees who cannot be tried or transferred to another country, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

Gates told senators that he realizes that virtually every member of Congress will file legislation prohibiting the U.S. from sending the detainees to a facility in their own state.

He said the Justice Department is still trying to determine how many of the 241 detainees at the military prison in Cuba will not be taken by other countries or put on trial, and there is no decision yet on where the remainder will go. Gates said that total would likely be between 50 and 100.

Pressed to give senators a hint on locations under consideration, Gates demurred. He added that while no final decision has been made on the fate of the current detention facility, he believes it will be "mothballed" once all the detainees there have been removed.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and others acknowledged broad concerns about where to hold the detainees so that Americans feel safe.

"Please not at Leavenworth," Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., urged Gates. "This is a hot topic in my state."

Brownback said that representatives from a number of other nations have told him that they would stop sending their officers to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth if officials decide to incarcerate Guantanamo detainees in the Army prison there.

Comments

[escribacat]

03:22 PM on 05/01/2009

There's that town in Montana who wants them.

[24kgold]

02:25 PM on 05/01/2009

These people are crazy, have they ever seen any of the US prison documentaries! Our prisoners are the worst ever the Gitmo detainees would have to be put in isolation.

[decided]

02:02 PM on 05/01/2009

Innocent until proven guilty. If there is not enough prooof to take these people to court then send them home. They may go back and become terrorists but maybe we did something to sway them that way.
I know we don't want any more terrorists but what if they are not guilty of anything. If we can't prosecute then we must free them. This is the American way!

[YesMrBond]

02:05 PM on 05/01/2009

Can they live next door to you?

[jsking2110]

02:42 PM on 05/01/2009

Send them home? the home countries won't take most of these guys back!

[YesMrBond]

01:45 PM on 05/01/2009

I think they should be released in the general population here in Texas with a ceremony so we can all get a good look at them (and a GPS coordinate). Run Forest,Run!!

[American50]

07:18 PM on 05/08/2009

sounds very good indeed

[roncar]

01:40 PM on 05/01/2009

Great, more Social Security recipients.

[dontvote4him]

02:29 PM on 05/01/2009

And potential democratic voters, especially if they end up in Chicago somehow.

[vivalamigra]

12:29 PM on 05/01/2009

I also meant amnesty for the terrorists as well. They're just adding to America's dverse tapestry.

[dontvote4him]

02:30 PM on 05/01/2009

Remember, we don't have terrorists anymore.

[vivalamigra]

12:15 PM on 05/01/2009

Well it's May Day, and the illegals are marching in the streets waving Mexican flags, so I was thinking that the only compassionate thing to do is give them amnesty. Don't worry, they'll all vote Democratic.

[Karl Jonas]

11:43 AM on 05/01/2009

brownback and all the neocons have lost their minds (if they ever had minds)...

what?? the federal penitentiary at leavenworth is NOT SECURE ENOUGH? What are those detainees at gitmo, superhuman?

[willt7311]

11:16 AM on 05/01/2009

Does anyone here have a problem with keeping whole families in prisons without a trial at Gitmo?

[willt7311]

11:14 AM on 05/01/2009

Are we closing Gitmo or the just the prison at Gitmo?

[grammy11]

10:54 AM on 05/01/2009

Send them to Antarctica with monthly food drops.

[jtmoney]

10:21 AM on 05/01/2009

put them in general population in any state prison in the USA and they will beg to go back to Gitmo, after the Arian Brotherhood gets thru with them.

[24kgold]

02:20 PM on 05/01/2009

That's what I'm saying.......

[dontvote4him]

02:31 PM on 05/01/2009

Should be good video with all the prison documentaries out there now.

[dogwatch]

10:09 AM on 05/01/2009

The neocons have invested so much in the error of Gitmo that they will say anything to keep it going, as if trying to cure cancer with rubbing alcohol. A bad idea compounded beyond reason. Get back to basic U.S. law and get off of this dead horse.

[thenorthshore]

09:32 AM on 05/01/2009

i heard this from one of the guests at gitmo

Well we're movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;
Beans don't burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin',
Just to get up that hill.
Now we're up in the big leagues,
Gettin' our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it's you and me baby,
There ain't nothin wrong with that.

[Garrett123]

09:24 AM on 05/01/2009

"Please not at Leavenworth," Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., urged Gates. "This is a hot topic in my state."

Repubs talk and talk a tough game but they wet their pants when the leaves rustle.