Gitmo, Illinois: Second Verse Same As The First?

By aaroncynic in News on Dec 16, 2009 7:40PM

The Obama administration announced yesterday that the much debated “Gitmo in Illinois” would move forward with housing nearly 100 detainees from the supposedly soon to close facility in Cuba. With plenty of hand wringing from Republicans over the issue, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn wrote a letter answering the questions and concerns Rep. Mark Kirk detailed in a letter to President Obama.

In the letter, Secretary Lynn points out that the DOJ “has successfully and safely prosecuted terrorists in Federal courts for many years, including Zacarias Moussaoui, Ali al-Marri, Ramzi Youssef and Omar Abdul Rahman. Lynn goes on to say “we do not anticipate that any detainees currently at Guantanamo Bay who are transferred to Thomson would be prosecuted in civilian courts. Instead, detainees who will be prosecuted in Federal court would be transferred directly to the jurisdiction where they would be prosecuted.” Others would be given military tribunals, possibly directly at the prison itself. Finally - though sounding extremely contradictory in denying that the category “too dangerous for trial” exists - some prisoners who do not have enough evidence “sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction” will be held indefinitely under the 2001 Congressional Authorization for Use of Military Force.

Essentially, the Obama administration is closing Guantanamo Bay as a symbolic gesture to the world, but reopening it on U.S. soil continuing most of its practices. In Hamdi V Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court concluded “Congress has clearly and unmistakably authorized detention” of anyone declared an “enemy combatant” under the 2001 Authorization. This effectively creates a "too dangerous for trial" category, though the letter denies it. According to the Tribune, Pentagon officials did say however, that detainees would be annually reviewed to decide if they qualified to transfer to another country.

Finally, secretary Lynn’s letter then goes on to detail the upgrade of Thomson to “Supermax” status to hopefully alleviate safety concerns, since no one has escaped from a supermax prison, ever. The Department of Defense also plans to use military personnel at the prison to handle detainees.