 The Bush administration is preparing plans for the possible lifetime detention of suspected terrorists, including hundreds whom the Government does not have enough evidence to charge in courts, The Washington Post reports. Citing intelligence, defence and diplomatic officials, the newspaper reports that the Pentagon and the CIA have asked the White House to decide on a more permanent approach for those it would not set free or turn over to courts at home or abroad. As part of a solution the Defence Department, which holds 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, plans to ask the US Congress for $A32 million to build a 200-bed prison to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal for lack of evidence. The newspaper reports that the new prison, dubbed Camp 6, would allow inmates more comfort and freedom than they have now. It says the camps would be designed for prisoners the Government believes have no more intelligence to share. "It would be modelled on a US prison and would allow socialising among inmates," the paper said.
| "Why, they can make shivs if they want," the report added. |
"Since global war on terror is a long-term effort, it makes sense for us to be looking at solutions for long-term problems," Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, was quoted as saying. "This has been evolutionary, but we are at a point in time where we have to say, 'How do you deal with them in the long-term?'" A Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt Col Ellen Krenke, has no information on the reported plan.
The Post reports that the outcome of a review under way would also affect those expected to be captured in the course of future counter-terrorism operations. One proposal would transfer large numbers of Afghan, Saudi and Yemeni detainees from the US military's Guantanamo Bay detention center into new US-built prisons in their home countries. A senior official is quoted as saying the prisons would be operated by those countries, but the State Department, where this idea originated, would ask them to abide by recognised human rights standards and would monitor compliance.
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