Obama Speech// Senate voted 90-6 Wed to block GTMO transfer

10:27 AM EST

Holder, Gates, Clinton and more present?

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"ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz said the decision (By both the Democratic and Republican Parties) 'flouts the Constitution's prohibition against indefinite detention without charge' and 'perpetuates rather than ends the failed experiment in lawlessness that is Guantanamo.'"

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Funds to close Gitmo rejected
Senators balk at Obama request. FBI chief bolsters foes of bringing detainees to U.S.

By Andrew Taylor

Associated Press

Thursday, May 21, 2009

WASHINGTON —- The Senate voted 90-6 Wednesday to block the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. and denied President Barack Obama the millions he sought to close the prison.

The vote came as FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress that bringing the detainees to the U.S. could pose risks “from concerns about providing financing, radicalizing others” to “the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States.”

Separately, a federal judge in Washington said the U.S. can continue to hold some prisoners at Guantanamo indefinitely without any charges. But U.S. District Judge John Bates limited those who can be held to detainees “the president determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001,” and those “who are or were part of Taliban or al-Qaida forces … that are engaged in hostilities against the United States.”

Last month, Obama asked for $80 million to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by January. In the eyes of the world, the prison has come to exemplify harsh U.S. anti-terror tactics and detention without trial.

The administration put its Democratic allies in a difficult spot by requesting the closure money before announcing a plan for what to do with its detainees.

Obama today is scheduled to outline in more detail his plans for Guantanamo, but it’s already clear many in Congress have little appetite for bringing detainees to the U.S., even if the inmates would be in maximum-security prisons.

In recent weeks, Republicans have called for keeping Guantanamo open, saying abuses at the facility are a thing of the past and describing it as a state-of-the-art prison that’s nicer than some U.S. prisons.

“The American people don’t want these men walking the streets of America’s neighborhoods,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said Wednesday. “The American people don’t want these detainees held at a military base or federal prison in their backyard, either.”

But Obama’s new Pentagon policy chief, Michele Flournoy, said it’s unrealistic to think that no detainees will come to the U.S., and said the government can’t ask allies to take detainees while refusing to take on the same burden.

“When we are asking allies to do their fair share in dealing with this challenge we need to do our fair share,” Flournoy said.

Obama ally Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) pointed out that not a single prisoner has ever escaped from a federal “supermax” prison and that 347 convicted terrorists already are being held in U.S. prisons.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, among the few Republicans joining former GOP presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona in calling for Guantanamo to be closed, scoffed at the idea that the government can’t find a way to hold Guantanamo prisoners in the U.S. Graham noted that 400,000 German and Japanese prisoners were held during World War II.

“The idea that we cannot find a place to securely house 250-plus detainees within the United States is not rational. We have done this before,” Graham said.

Who can be held?

A federal judge in Washington says the U.S. can continue to hold some prisoners at Guantanamo indefinitely without any charges.

U.S. District Judge John Bates’ opinion limited who can be held to those “the president determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001,” and to those “who are or were part of Taliban or al-Qaida forces or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.”

The ruling, issued Tuesday night, came in the case of several Guantanamo prisoners who are challenging their detention.

ACLU attorney Jonathan Hafetz said the decision “flouts the Constitution’s prohibition against indefinite detention without charge” and “perpetuates rather than ends the failed experiment in lawlessness that is Guantanamo.”

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