Obama will seek to transfer some detainees to US prisons (Roundup)

By Mike McCarthy May 21, 2009, 16:40 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama declared Thursday that some terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay will be brought to prisons on US soil, and urged Congress to stop using fear as a politcal tactic to oppose the transfer of detainees to the United States.

Obama strongly defended his decision to close Guantanamo, saying the prison camp on the remote US Navy base in Cuba is a stain on America's image abroad and undermines the war on terrorism and US security.

In a major national security address, Obama said 'supermax' prisons in the United States are adequately equipped for holding some of the 240 Guantanamo detainees because they already contain the most dangerous criminals and hundreds of other terrorists who have been convicted in federal courts.

'If we can try those terrorists in our courts and hold them in our prisons, then we can do the same with detainees from Guantanamo,' Obama said.

Obama's speech was designed to quell the mounting opposition across Democratic and Republican lines in Congress over his approach to Guantanamo. His nearly hour-long remarks at the National Archives - home to the Declaration of Independence and Constitution - came after the Senate overwhelmingly rejected Wednesday his 80-million- dollar request to begin shuttering the facility.

'I've heard words that are calculated to scare people rather than educate them - words that have more to do with politics than protecting our country,' Obama said.

Obama's order on January 22 to close Guantanamo within a year was widely praised by Democrats and Republicans, but Obama has in recent weeks faced stiff opposition to bringing prisoners to the United States. Lawmakers have argued that would pose a hazard to the American public.

'The problem of what to do with Guantanamo detainees was not caused by my decision to close the facility,' Obama said, 'the problem exists because of the decision to open Guantanamo in the first place.'

The Democrats largely objected to funding the closure before Obama offers a detailed plan of how to do so, but some have joined Republicans in opposing bringing any detainees to the United States. Further, some hardened Republicans believe Guantanamo should remain open as a viable tool in the war on terrorism.

'The idea of giving up that resource is just ludicrous,' conservative Senator James Inhofe told reporters Wednesday.

Obama sought to reassure the public that no dangerous detainees will be released, and acknowledged that there are prisoners at Guantanamo who will be held indefinitely because they cannot be prosecuted and remain too high a threat to be let go.

'I am not going to release individuals who endanger the American people,' he said. 'Al-Qaeda terrorists and their affiliates are at war with the United States, and those that we capture ... must be prevented from attacking us again.'

Obama said he intends to develop a legal framework for holding detainees without charges to ensure there is a periodical review and that any prolonged detention can be justified.

'We must have clear, defensible and lawful standards for those who fall in this category,' he said.

Obama largely cast the Bush administration's policies in the war on terrorism as ineffective, and argued that Guantanamo has served as a rallying cry to motivate extremists around the world while isolating US allies. Obama is asking allies to accept some of the 50 prisoners eligible for release or transfer. Only Britain and France have each a prisoner since Obama took office.

'By any measure, the costs of keeping it open far exceed the complications involved in closing it,' Obama said.

Former vice president Dick Cheney, who has hit the airwaves in recent weeks to defend the policies during the Bush years, shot back in speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington that began minutes after Obama concluded.

Cheney credited Democrats for joining Republicans to criticize Obama over Guantanamo, and argued there were no good alternatives to keeping the prison open. He accused Obama of making a snap decision to close Guantanamo without considering the consequences.

'The administration has found that it's easy to receive applause in Europe for closing Guantanamo,' Cheney said. 'But it's tricky to come up with an alternative that will serve the interests of justice and America's national security.'

Obama has also faced criticism from the left and civil rights organizations for keeping in place Bush's military commissions. Obama said on May 14 that he intends to revive the Guantanamo tribunals but will reform the process to improve the rights of defendants and ban the use of evidence obtained through harsh interrogations or torture.