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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Gitmo

Gitmo stories: 15 news summaries



 Obama: 
 We Won't 
 Make Gitmo 
 Deadline 

Pres tells Fox's Major Garrett prison will close after Jan 2010

(Newser) - Guantanamo Bay prison won't close by the January deadline he set when he took office, President Obama admitted today, but he still hopes to shut it next year. Obama is "not disappointed" in missing the deadline, he says in a FoxNews interview airing this morning, since closing the facility... More »

 Prison in Illinois 
 May Replace Gitmo 

Thompson site is top contender, but local congressmen are opposed

(Newser) - The leading contender to take Guantanamo Bay's prisoners when it shuts down is a federal prison in Illinois, sources tell the Chicago Tribune . The near-empty facility in the small town of Thompson, about 150 miles west of Chicago, would take an unspecified but "limited" number of Gitmo's remaining 215... More »

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Prosecutors Hope Plea Deals Will Close Gitmo Cases

Federal, Military prosecutors fight for rare testimony

(Newser) - Federal and military prosecutors looking to convict Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other high-profile Guantanamo Bay detainees are competing with each other to offer plea bargains to lower-profile inmates in exchange for testimony. Some detainees have remained at Gitmo because they are considered too difficult to prosecute, and the evidence against... More »

 Uighur Won't Leave Brother 
 at Gitmo—So He's Staying 

Neither is guilty, but one has no offer of resettlement

(Newser) - Bahtiyar Mahnut, a Chinese Uighur detainee at Guantanamo Bay, is guilty of no crime. In fact, he’s free to leave and even has an offer of sanctuary from the island nation of Palau, like all of his compatriots save one. And that one, his brother Arkin, is why he’... More »

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(Newser) - About a quarter of the 229 detainees at Guantanamo Bay will face trial, says Attorney General Eric Holder. Speaking to a Senate panel today, Holder said the US had decided the fate of about half the remaining prisoners, though he did not offer specifics, reports Reuters. President Obama plans to... More »

updated

First Gitmo Detainee to Face Trial Pleads
Not Guilty

Denies role in 1998 embassy bombings

(AP) - The first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be brought to the US for trial has pleaded not guilty in two embassy bombings. Ahmed Ghailani entered the plea today in federal court in Manhattan. Ghailani is charged with participating in the bombing of embassies in Africa in August 1998, attacks that killed... More »

(Newser) - The Obama administration may let accused 9/11 terrorists at Guantanamo Bay plead guilty and be executed without facing trial, the New York Times reports. A proposed change in military law, which governs Guantanamo tribunals, would give the alleged attackers what they seek—martyrdom—and avoid trials that could reveal harsh... More »

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(Newser) - Today's "televised smackdown" between Obama and Cheney was the "political world's equivalent of Ali-Frazier," writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. After the president warned against "fear-mongering," Cheney came out swinging. He "used the word 'attack' 19 times, 'danger' and 'threat' six times apiece,... More »

(Newser) - Leading Democrats praised President Obama's speech today while making clear that they still need details about closing Gitmo, Politico reports. “We’re all awaiting the details of the plan and the president is going to come up with one,” said Harry Reid, echoing the sentiment of fellow senators.... More »

(Newser) - A Pentagon report concludes that 74 of 534 prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay returned to militant activity—a recidivism rate of 14%, or about 1 in 7, the New York Times notes. The report, still under review, could complicate President Obama’s goal of shutting the facility by January because... More »

(Newser) - The fate of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay remains unclear, but Robert Gates hinted at one possibility during a Senate hearing today, reports the New York Times: Inmates who aren’t tried, repatriated, or sent to other countries could wind up in the US. Of the 250 “enemy combatants” in... More »

(Newser) - A top Spanish court is close to investigating six former Bush administration officials for circumventing international law to justify torture at Guantanamo Bay, the New York Times reports. Judge Baltasar Garzon, a human rights crusader who has gone after former Chilean ruler Augusto Pinochet, is reviewing the case, which could... More »

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updated

US Drops Charges Against Cole Suspect

Obama meets families of victims, including 9/11, tomorrow

(Newser) - The US withdrew charges—at least temporarily—against the main suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing tonight, ABC News reports. They could be reinstated once the Obama administration works out the logistics of handling the cases of Gitmo detainees. President Obama, meanwhile, will meet face-to-face with families of victims... More »

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(Newser) - About one in five Gitmo detainees is on a hunger strike to catch the attention of Barack Obama, the Times of London reports. Of the 248 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, 44 are refusing to eat, prompting the US to force-feed 33 of them through tubes. A military official also tells... More »

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analysis

Coney Island Gets Political With Waterboarding Demo

New sideshow installation protests torture

(Newser) - Coney Island's politically charged addition to its sideshow lineup—two animatronic figures demonstrating how waterboarding works—"is disturbing in a way that journalistic accounts of torture can only approximate," writes Jeremy Gerard of Bloomberg. "It left me wrecked." For $1, spectators can peer through a barred... More »

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15 Stories