Guantanamo closing faces legal hurdles

September 11, 2009|Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon’s top lawyer said yesterday that the Obama administration remains committed to closing the Guantanamo Bay prison by early next year but stopped short of assuring that it will happen.

Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson made his comments as Congress weighs how to revamp a military court system, a key part of President Obama’s pledge to close Guantanamo by Jan. 22.

A number of legal questions remain on how to prosecute and detain the 226 suspected Al Qaeda, Taliban, and foreign fighters being held at the US military prison in Cuba. That has cast doubt on whether the Obama administration can resolve the questions in about four months, and prompted top Republicans in Congress to demand that the prison stay open for now.

Johnson told a national security panel of American Bar Association lawyers that there are many issues involved in closing Guantanamo Bay and transferring detainees.

Underscoring those challenges, Johnson also said he hoped that legislation to overhaul the Bush-era military commissions court system would be completed by the end of this month.

In an interview, Johnson cautioned that administration lawyers are still at odds with a Senate plan that defines providing material support to terrorists as a war crime.

Material support is a federal crime, but the charge was elevated to a laws of war violation in the 2006 Military Commissions Act pushed by George W. Bush. The issue is important because it will determine what kind of court some of the Guantanamo detainees will be tried in.