Obama To Order Guantanamo Closure Feinstein Introduces Bill

Obama intends to issue an order to close Guantanamo within his first week. Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced today a bill intended to shut the detention facility within a year:

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced legislation today to close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year of the bill’s enactment.

It is the first measure introduced in the Senate to close the Guantanamo Bay facility.

Senator Feinstein, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is deeply concerned that open-ended detentions and documented reports of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay have tarnished America’s reputation and complicated our efforts to fight global terrorism.

“Guantanamo Bay has become a lightning rod for international condemnation,” Senator Feinstein said. “This has greatly damaged the nation’s credibility around the world. Rather than make the United States safer, the image projected by this facility puts us at greater risk. The time has come to close it down.”

“I want to be clear. I am absolutely opposed to releasing any terrorists, Taliban fighters or anyone else held at Guantanamo who is committed to harming the United States.

“At the same time, we must recognize the sustained damage this facility is doing to our international standing. We are better served by closing this facility and transferring the detainees elsewhere.”

The legislation Senator Feinstein has introduced requires that, within one year of the date of enactment:

The President shall close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay; and
All detainees at the facility shall be removed and transferred to:
A civilian or military facility in the United States and charged with a violation of U.S. or international law for prosecution in a civilian or military proceeding;
A facility in the United States for continued detention, where authorized;
Any international legal tribunal that may be authorized for this purpose; or
The detainees’ home nations or a third-party government for further processing; there must be assurances that detainees will not be tortured or otherwise handled in a manner against international law. Read more at Feinstein's senate site.

Obama Calls Closing Guantanamo Priority

WaPo: The Obama administration will launch a review of the classified files of the approximately 250 detainees at Guantanamo Bay immediately after taking office, as part of an intensive effort to close the U.S. prison in Cuba, according to people who advised the campaign on detainee issues.

Announcing the closure of the controversial detention facility would be among the most potent signals the incoming administration could send of its sharp break with the Bush era, according to the advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak for the president-elect. They believe the move would create a global wave of diplomatic and popular goodwill that could accelerate the transfer of some detainees to other countries.

But the advisers, as well as outside national security and legal experts, said the new administration will face a thicket of legal, diplomatic, political and logistical challenges to closing the prison and prosecuting the most serious offenders in the United States -- an effort that could take many months or longer. Among the thorniest issues will be how to build effective cases without using evidence obtained by torture, an issue that attorneys for the detainees will almost certainly seek to exploit.