source: Raw Story
A task force appointed by President Barack Obama to craft detention policy in the wake of his decision to close Guantanamo Bay will take another six months to release their recommendations.
“They have asked for a six month extension,” a senior administration official told reporters Monday evening, hours before the group was due to announce their findings.
The task force was created by an executive order, in the wake of Obama’s decision to shutter the controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and includes among its members Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
At the same time, the administration official and the Justice Department said another detainee task force, this one charged with examining interrogation policy, would receive a two-month extension for its report.
The delays were defended by the administration, which pointed to the complexity of the issues and the need to “get this right.”
“We need to go through these questions thoroughly… to make sure we have them resolved in a manner consistent with the role that they will play in national security,” the administration official said on condition of anonymity.
“We want to get this right and not to have another multiple years of uncertainty around these issues but rather be able to present to the Congress and American people a plan with legal foundation.”
Congress has given the Obama administration until the end of September to provide a detailed plan showing how it will to close the facility and deal with the transfer of prisoners.
The task force did produce some recommendations Monday, laying out criteria to be considered in deciding whether a detainee can or should be prosecuted, and in front of which legal forum.
The administration has said it will maintain so-called military commissions established by former president George W. Bush’s administration, with some modifications, but will also prosecute detainees before federal courts.
The guidelines produced by the task force suggest prosecutors should aim to try cases before civilian courts, but says other factors can be considered, including the seriousness of the charges, the identity of victims, the way evidence was gathered, the available sentence and “foreign policy concerns.”
This video is from Al Jazeera, broadcast July 21, 2009.
