WASHINGTON (AP) -- Up
to half the terror suspects held at the U.S. military prison at
Guantanamo Bay could be closer to heading home under a bipartisan deal
reached in Congress that gives President Barack Obama a rare victory in
his fight to close the prison.
The deal would lift
the most rigid restrictions Congress previously imposed on detainee
transfers overseas and is part of a broad compromise defense bill
awaiting final passage in the Senate this week. The House approved the
measure last Thursday.
Senate Armed Services
Committee Chairman Carl Levin said the compromise could have a dramatic
impact on the 160 detainees still being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"About half of the
detainees would be detainees that could be transferred to their
third-world countries from which they come," Levin told reporters.
"About half of the detainees would remain in Guantanamo because of the
prohibition on transferring them to the United States for detention and
for trial."
The defense bill marks
the first time since Obama came to office promising to close Guantanamo
that Congress is moving to ease restrictions instead of strengthen
them. And it could signal changing political views toward the prison for
terrorism suspects now that the war in Afghanistan is winding down.
Obama's achievement
was somewhat of a surprise, after the Republican-controlled House
earlier this year voted overwhelmingly to make it harder to transfer
detainees. But the deal to move in the opposite direction passed with
hardly any opposition and little attention - perhaps overshadowed by
more prominent defense bill debates over Iran sanctions, military sexual
assaults and spying by the National Security Agency.
But even with the
deal, Obama still faces big obstacles to closing Guantanamo. Congress
has effectively blocked him from doing so for his first five years in
office, and he faces declining clout in his final three. Yet the
president seems determined as part of his legacy to push for closure of
the prison he argues never should have been opened and "has become a
symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law."
Congressional
proponents of keeping Guantanamo open say they felt they had to allow
for transfers to other countries to maintain a more important priority -
a ban on detainees from coming into the United States. The
administration also pushed for the ability to transfer detainees to the
U.S. for imprisonment, trial or medical emergencies but lost on that
front, leaving Obama a thorny predicament of what to do with captives
considered too dangerous to release.
Oklahoma Sen. James
Inhofe, who worked on the compromise as the ranking Republican on the
Senate Armed Services Committee, said he'll continue to fight to keep
Guantanamo open even as some colleagues are softening their position.
"There's no place else you can house these terrorists," he said in a
telephone interview Wednesday, adding some former detainees have
re-engaged in terrorist activity.
"I look at this and I
wonder why people don't want it," Inhofe said. "But the president
doesn't and he's going to keep trying (to close it). And this bill stops
him from doing it."
Obama renewed his
commitment to closure this spring when detainees went on a hunger strike
to protest indefinite confinement without charge, now going on for 12
years. Obama responded by vowing to make the case anew to Congress that
the prison hurts the United States and appointing envoys at the State
and Defense Departments to work toward closure.
"Guantanamo is not
necessary to keep America safe," Obama said. "It is expensive. It is
inefficient. It hurts us in terms of our international standing. It
lessens cooperation with our allies on counterterrorism efforts. It is a
recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed."
Top administration
officials, including Obama counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco and
State Department envoy Clifford Sloan, made a quiet yet effective
lobbying push to convince members to ease restrictions. They pointed out
the annual cost of operating Guantanamo has reached more than $2
million per prisoner while other terrorism suspects are kept in U.S
prisons at a small fraction of the price.
Half of the detainees
at Guantanamo were approved for transfer nearly four years ago, provided
that the home country could provide security guarantees. But the Obama
administration has argued that many approved transfers effectively have
been blocked by restrictions imposed by Congress.
For instance,
lawmakers have barred the administration from transferring any detainee
without the Pentagon certifying that, among other requirements, the
receiving country is not "facing a threat that is likely to
substantially affect its ability to exercise control over the
individual." Administration officials have said that's a bar too high in
particular for Yemen, home to the world's most active al-Qaida branch
and more than half the Guantanamo detainees.
The rules have
prohibited transfers to countries where detainees who have been released
previously have re-engaged in terrorism. That includes Kuwait, a key
U.S. ally that has been lobbying for the return of its two remaining
detainees and has built a still unused rehabilitation center to
peacefully reintegrate them.
There's also been a
prohibition on transferring detainees to countries that the United
States has declared a state sponsor of terrorism. Guantanamo houses
three Syrians who have been approved for transfer but would be barred
from going home under the current rules. Sudan's government says its two
remaining detainees were heading home Wednesday - one has completed a
sentence after a conviction on terrorism charges and the other is so ill
he's unlikely to pose a threat and was recently ordered released by a
judge. Court ordered transfers are excluded from the congressional
restrictions; otherwise the administration would not have been able to
send even a debilitated prisoner home to certain countries.
The congressional deal
lifts those restrictions and allows transfers for those detainees who
have been approved when the administration determines the transfer is in
the national security interests of the U.S.
Administration
officials say they are working with foreign governments to negotiate
terms of transfers so there won't be a big movement overnight.
"The president
directed the administration to responsibly reduce the detainee
population to the greatest extent possible, and we would welcome much
needed flexibility in this area," said National Security Council
spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden. "But even in the absence of transfer
restrictions, our longstanding policy is to transfer detainees only if
the threat posed by the detainee can be sufficiently mitigated and when
consistent with our humane treatment policy."
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