There have been at least two noteworthy pieces of Gitmo-closing news in the past 24 hours.
First, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee today that as many as 50 to 100 Gitmo detainees cannot be tried but are too dangerous to be released. The implication being that the Obama administration will continue to detain them. Gates asked: "What do we do with the 50 to 100 -- probably in that ballpark -- who we cannot release and cannot try?" That's still an open question, Gates said, but he's requested an additional $50 million in funding for the facility, just in case it is needed. But Gates recognized that most communities won't want former Gitmo detainees jailed near them.
"I fully expect to have 535 pieces of legislation before this is over saying ‘not in my district, not in my state.'"
"We'll just have to deal with that when the time comes," Gates said.
Second, on the other side of the Atlantic, Attorney General Holder told reporters that the Obama administration has approved 30 detainees for release. This includes the 17 Uighur detainees as well as 13 others. (See here for a summary of the Uighurs' story.) Over at the Corner, Andy McCarthy runs down the pertinent questions with respect to these 30 detainees, including: "What are the standards used by the administration to ‘clear' an enemy combatant for release?"
This question is particularly important because we know the Obama administration has cleared a known al Qaeda doctor named Ayman Batarfi, who has ties to the terrorist group's anthrax program, for release. Besides the 17 Uighurs and Batarfi, what other detainees have been cleared for release?
Putting Holder's comments together with Gates's remarks we are left with a few questions. There are reportedly 241 detainees left at Gitmo. If 30 detainees have been cleared for release, and another 50 to 100 are too dangerous to be released but cannot be tried, then we are still left with somewhere between 111 and 161 detainees. What will come of them? How many of those detainees will the Obama administration try in court? Will the majority of them ultimately be released as well? Is the Obama administration attempting to get European nations to take them?
