Review of Guantanamo detainees begins

[cal04]

The Justice Department is compiling the evidence against each prisoner, a first step toward closing the facility and deciding whether Obama can close the book on Bush's detention policies.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gitmo14-2009feb14,0,1394765.story?track=rss

Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration has begun the process of reviewing files of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to determine who can be prosecuted and who can be transferred to other countries, officials said Friday, a crucial first step toward closing the prison.

The review, begun this week, is also key to a decision on whether the administration can turn the page completely on the Bush administration's detention policies.

"We think it essential that these files get looked at with a completely new eye by the new administration," said Devon Chaffee, advocacy counsel for Human Rights First.

But depending on the outcome of the review, the Obama administration may decide it has to retain some form of the controversial military commission system begun under President Bush. Administration officials also could decide they must continue holding some prisoners without trials, relying on the same powers under the law of armed conflict that the Bush administration used to detain "enemy combatants."

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"The review team is in the process of identifying all the information," a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity because the review will not be public.

The process will not be simple. The executive order directs Holder to assemble the evidence to "the extent reasonably practicable."

But the senior official said there is not, and may never be, a single file for each detainee. And because evidence was collected by different agencies, or by different parts of the Defense Department, much of it remains classified and scattered in multiple locations.

[Solly Mack]

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