Spending Bill Bans Moving Gitmo Detainees
The Washington Post reports:
The Senate is expected to consider a provision this week that would block the Obama administration from bringing Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States for trial, including the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The House on Wednesday approved the nine-month ban on transfers of Guantanamo inmates, drawing fierce opposition from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. The provision then went to the Senate as part of a broad spending bill that the chamber is likely to take up in some form this week.
Although it was unclear whether the Senate will go along, the legal fate of the accused planners of Sept. 11 remained more uncertain than ever nearly a decade after the attacks, according to administration and congressional officials.
Holder announced in the fall of 2009 that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who has claimed responsibility for Sept. 11, and four other al-Qaeda detainees would go on trial in Manhattan federal court. But the plan soon ran into a bipartisan storm of opposition, which is tied to the administration's broader difficulties in closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - where Mohammed and the other detainees are held.
New York officials and lawmakers objected to civilian trials, saying they would be too expensive and dangerous. Administration officials said in March that New York was out and that the detainees, who had already been charged in a military commission at Guantanamo, would likely face a military trial.
Ever since, the cases have languished, with no decision on the venue. And the political prospects for civilian trials grew even dimmer last month when Ahmed Ghailani, the first Guantanamo detainee brought to the United States for trial, was acquitted of 284 counts for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa. Jurors convicted the 36-year-old Tanzanian on one count of conspiracy, and he could face life in prison.
But the lack of a clear and unequivocal victory left administration officials believing they have no choice but to hold detainees such as Mohammed indefinitely while proceeding with a select number of military commissions. Administration officials say federal court trials are highly unlikely for the foreseeable future.
In that political context, the House passed the provision that would prohibit the use of any funds to transfer Mohammed - who was specified by name - and other Guantanamo detainees to the United States for trial. The three-paragraph measure was tucked into a more than $1 trillion spending bill designed to fund the federal government through Sept. 30, 2011.
The bill passed by a vote of 212-206 on the strength of 212 Democratic votes. Republicans, many of whom have long opposed civilian trials for Guantanamo detainees, voted against it for other reasons, congressional aides said.
