Guantanamo to Close?

I am always a bit skeptical of anonymous sources. Perhaps it is a trial balloon. I think it is a good idea to close it so maybe that will ensure it stays open. I understand quite a bit of money was spent upgrading parts of the camp but perhaps that is of no significance. The US government spares nothing in arming their contractors with the best profits available.
The Khadr family for the most part were Al Qaeda sympathisers. The father was good friends with Bin Laden and died in a firefight. However another son who was also at Guantanamo for some time was a spy for the CIA. He is back in Canada now. He worked for the CIA in Bosnia as well as Guantanamo.
I always wonder about some bills that I see before congress. They ultimately seem to disappear into limbo in many cases.


U.S. considering closing Guantanamo Bay prison: sources
Last Updated: Thursday, June 21, 2007 | 10:00 PM ET
CBC News
The American government is nearing a decision to close the controversial U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and move the detainees to other jails, the Associated Press reports.

President George W. Bush's national security and legal advisers are expected to discuss the move at the White House on Friday, senior administration officials told the Associated Press on Thursday. They said it appears a consensus is developing for the first time.

The advisers will consider a proposal to transfer detainees, who are suspected of having ties to terrorist activities, to other Defense Department facilities in the United States, the Associated Press reported.

The administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the prisoners would face trials after the transfers.

Most of the 380 prisoners at Guantanamo have never been charged. Omar Khadr, 20, the only Canadian held at the facility, was charged with murder and terrorism, but those charges were dropped for technical reasons on June 4.

Pressure to close Guantanamo
Previous plans to close Guantanamo have run into resistance from Vice-President Dick Cheney, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.



Cheney's office and the U.S. Justice Department have argued that moving "unlawful" enemy combatant suspects to the U.S. would give them undeserved legal rights.

They could block any proposal to close Guantanamo, but pressure to do so has been building since a Supreme Court decision last year that found the system for prosecuting enemy combatants at the facility illegal.

The government promptly set up a new military tribunal system, but that system was called into question when military judges threw out charges against Khadr and another suspect, Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen.

Congress bill calls for closure
Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. Congress would require Guantanamo's closure. Another bill would grant new rights to those held at Guantanamo Bay, including access to lawyers regardless of whether the prisoners are put on trial. Still another bill would allow detainees to protest their detentions in a U.S. federal court, something they are now denied.

Guantanamo Bay was set up in 2002 to house suspected terrorists captured in military operations, mostly in Afghanistan.

Because the facility is in Cuba, the U.S. government has argued that detainees there are not covered by rights and protections afforded to those in U.S. prisons.

Human rights advocates and foreign leaders have repeatedly called for the prison's closure.

Officials say Bush, who has said he wants to close the facility as soon as possible, is keenly aware of its shortcomings. Bush has said the United States has to determine what to do with the detainees before closing the detention centre.

Khadr was 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan in 2002 and has been imprisoned in Guantanamo since. He was accused of throwing a grenade that killed American medic Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer.

Khadr, who was born in the Toronto area, spent several years of his childhood in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His family is reputed to be al-Qaeda sympathizers.