Idea of the Day: Transfer a Small Number of Guantánamo Detainees

June 26, 2008

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The next administration should bring a small number of Guantánamo detainees into the United States to stand trial in regular federal or military courts. Scrapping the flawed Military Commissions and rejecting any effort to establish National Security Courts in favor of established U.S. courts will get trials moving faster and is a major step to restore confidence in the legitimacy of America’s actions.

The bottom line is that established U.S. federal and military courts are vastly superior venues to work through the challenging issues of terrorism prosecutions than the poorly conceived Military Commissions or any new National Security Courts that appear as if they were organized to convict, rather than render fair decisions of guilt or innocence.

The next administration should transfer into the United States as many as five, and as few as one or two, Guantánamo detainees accused of serious crimes, but not the gravest, to stand trial in either federal or military courts. This action can be accomplished with the greatest practical speed as it does not require any negotiation or agreement, simply a decision to move the location of detention and venue for trial while maintaining the detainees in U.S. custody.

Moving detainees first into the United States would be a strong signal to the international community that this new administration really is intent on pursuing a significantly different detainee policy than the Bush administration. Bringing only a small number of detainees
to the United States at first would not overly tax either federal or military courts and would allay public fears of a mass transfer of suspected terrorists into the United States. It would also be an opportunity to build confidence among the American people that existing institutions have the capacity to handle the trial and imprisonment of terrorists.

For more on this topic, please see:

• How to Close Guantánamo by Ken Gude