[Infowarrior] - White House near decision to close Gitmo

[Richard Forno]

White House near decision to close Gitmo

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is nearing a decision to close the
Guantanamo Bay detainee facility and move the terror suspects there to
military prisons elsewhere, The Associated Press has learned.

President Bush's national security and legal advisers are expected to
discuss the move at the White House on Friday and, for the first time, it
appears a consensus is developing, senior administration officials said
Thursday.

The advisers will consider a proposal to shut the center and transfer
detainees to one or more Defense Department facilities, including the
maximum security military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where they
could face trial, said the officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were discussing internal deliberations.

Officials familiar with the agenda of the Friday meeting said Vice President
Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert
Gates, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Homeland Security chief Michael
Chertoff, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and Joint Chiefs of
Staff chairman Gen. Peter Pace were expected to attend.

It was not immediately clear if the meeting would result in a final
recommendation to Bush.

Previous plans to close Guantanamo have run into resistance from Cheney,
Gonzales and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But officials said
the new suggestion is gaining momentum with at least tacit support from the
State and Homeland Security departments, the Pentagon, and the Intelligence
directorate.

Cheney's office and the Justice Department have been dead set against the
step, arguing that moving "unlawful" enemy combatant suspects to the U.S.
would give them undeserved legal rights.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070621/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_guantanamo_8