Obama planning US trials for Guantanamo detainees

Washington: President-elect Barack Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.

During his campaign, Obama described Guantanamo as a "sad chapter in American history" and has said generally that the US legal system is equipped to handle the detainees.

But he has offered few details on what he planned to do once the facility is closed. Under plans being put together in Obama's camp, some detainees would be released and many others would be prosecuted in US criminal courts.

A third group of detainees - the ones whose cases are most entangled in highly classified information - might have to go before a new court designed especially to handle sensitive national security cases, according to advisers and Democrats involved in the talks.

Advisers participating directly in the planning spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans are not final.

The move would be a sharp deviation from the Bush administration, which established military tribunals to prosecute detainees at the Navy base in Cuba and strongly opposes bringing prisoners to the United States.

Obama's Republican challenger, John McCain, had also pledged to close Guantanamo. But McCain opposed criminal trials, saying the Bush administration's tribunals should continue on US soil.

The plan being developed by Obama's team has been championed by legal scholars from both political parties.

Supremacists: 'Plotters' locked up

Two white supremacists accused of plotting to assassinate Barack Obama are on lockdown in their Tennessee jail cell.

Newspapers reported on Sunday that 20-year-old Daniel Cowart of Tennessee and 18-year-old Paul Schlesselman of Arkansas are under the lockdown for their protection.

Obion County Sheriff Jerry Vastbinder says they were separated from other inmates at the request of federal authorities.

Will Obama's plans help improve the country's image in the world? Would you consider the Guantanamo Bay issue as the biggest human rights failing of the Bush administration? Why?

I think Obama will certainly help reverse the world policy and bring overall balance within the world community.
Deoram Ahire
Mumbai,India
Posted: November 11, 2008, 12:27