by Dana Priest
Administration officials are preparing long-range plans for indefinitely
imprisoning suspected terrorists whom they do not want to set free or turn
over to courts in the United States or other countries, according to
intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials.
The Pentagon and the CIA have asked the White House to decide on a more
permanent approach for potentially lifetime detentions, including for
hundreds of people now in military and CIA custody whom the government does
not have enough evidence to charge in courts. The outcome of the review,
which also involves the State Department, would also affect those expected
to be captured in the course of future counterterrorism operations. . . .
One proposal under review is the transfer of large numbers of Afghan, Saudi
and Yemeni detainees from the military's Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention
center into new U.S.-built prisons in their home countries. The prisons
would be operated by those countries, but the State Department, where this
idea originated, would ask them to abide by recognized human rights
standards and would monitor compliance, the senior administration official
said. . . .
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David Rose, "How We Survived Guantanamo
Hell," Observer, March 14, 2004
"Senator Says Lifetime
Terror Detentions 'Bad Idea'," Reuters, January 2, 2005
Juan Cole, "Pipes
Favors Concentration Camps," Axis of Logic, January 2, 2005
Julian Borger, "US
plans permanent Guantanamo jails," Guardian, January 3, 2005
Mike Whitney, "Injustice as State
Policy: The Guantanamo Gulag," CounterPunch, January 3, 2005
Douglas Jehl and Neil A. Lewis, "U.S. Said to Hold More Foreigners in Iraq Fighting," New York
Times, January 8, 2005
Douglas Jehl, "Pentagon
Seeks to Transfer More Detainees From Base in Cuba," New York Times,
March 11, 2005
Alan Elsner, "U.S. Prison
Population, World's Highest, Up Again," Reuters, April 24, 2005
[. . . the United States Government should either expeditiously bring all
Guant‡namo Bay detainees to trial or release them without further delay.
They also call on the Government to close down the Guant‡namo Bay detention
centre and to refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment, discrimination on the basis of religion, and
violations of the rights to health and freedom of religion. The
investigators also request full and unrestricted access to the Guant‡namo
Bay facilities, including private interviews with detainees. Consideration
should also be given to trying suspected terrorists before a competent
international tribunal."HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERTS ISSUE
JOINT REPORT ON SITUATION OF DETAINEES IN GUANTANAMO BAY," United
Nations, February 16, 2006]
Ian Herbert and Ben Russell, "'The
Americans are breaking international law... it is a society heading towards
Animal Farm' - Archbishop Sentamu on Guantanamo," Independent, February
18, 2006