229 inmates looking for a home
Janine Zacharia and Justin Blun Washington
July 19, 2009
THE US may not be able to move all eligible detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to other countries before President Barack Obama's January deadline for closing the prison, an Obama Administration official has admitted.
The effort to resettle prisoners has been hampered by legislation that bars their release in the US until September 30.
American diplomats, who are trying to persuade other countries to take detainees before the deadline, are being asked why they should accept them when the US won't.
On his second full day in office, Mr Obama signed an order to close the Guantanamo detention facility within one year.
A multi-agency taskforce led by the Justice Department has reviewed more than half of the 229 detainees to determine which ones should be transferred, tried or held indefinitely. At least 54 of those reviewed have been cleared as suitable for a transfer.
The State Department is making progress in persuading other countries to accept detainees, although much work remains. Eleven detainees have been sent to other countries since Mr Obama took office in January.
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said in Washington that the Administration was engaged in a "rigorous process" to evaluate detainees and close Guantanamo.
"The President … and our entire Administration are 100 per cent committed to the closure of Guantanamo and to proceeding with the transfer of those who can be transferred, the trial of those who can be tried, and the continuing detention of those who pose a grave threat," Mrs Clinton said.
The Obama Administration hasn't specified what will happen to detainees who are found to be eligible for resettlement in other countries and aren't transferred by the deadline.
The detention facility opened in 2002 under the Republican president George W. Bush. Mr Obama, a Democrat, said in May that Guantanamo "set back the moral authority that is America's strongest currency in the world".
War-crimes hearings took place at Guantanamo last week for eight detainees, including self-described September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Family members of victims of the attacks called on Mr Obama to keep the detention centre open.
Negotiations this year already have resulted in detainees being transferred to Saudi Arabia, Chad, Iraq, Bermuda, the UK and France, Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman said.
The task force is still conducting reviews "and more progress in bringing swift and certain justice to those detainees is expected in the weeks to come," Mr LaBolt said.
