Guatemala Massacre Comes With Chilling Message - 27 people decapitated on Guatemala farm

Guatemala's government has declared a "state of siege" in the Peten region near Mexico's border in response to the recent massacre of nearly 30 field workers on a ranch in the area.

Obama weighs review process for Guantanamo detainees

Some of the remaining detainees under guard in Guantanamo prison.

The Obama administration is considering the creation of a review process for Guantanamo Bay detainees who are deemed too dangerous to be released but who cannot be tried in either civilian or military courts.

An administration official confirmed that an executive order had been drafted that would establish “periodic reviews” for prolonged detentions. But the official said the order had not yet gone to President Barack Obama.

The order may be greeted warily by human rights groups. While the administration sees the process as a way to provide clear standards for cases of indefinite detentions, many rights groups oppose any formalisation of such detentions.



The Washington Post, which first reported that the draft order was under consideration, said it would create a system that would allow detainees and their lawyers to challenge incarcerations, possibly every year.

It would also establish a more “adversarial” process for reviews than the system put in place by the administration of former President George W. Bush, the newspaper said.

There are still 174 detainees at the Guantanamo prison and about three dozen were set for prosecution in either US criminal courts or military commissions. Republicans have demanded that the trials be held at Guantanamo.

In a May 2009 speech in which he underscored his pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, Obama said there was a need for “prolonged detention” for some terrorism suspects who could not be tried but posed a threat to security.

US officials say trials are not possible in some cases because evidence was obtained through torture or is classified.

“We must have clear, defensible and lawful standards for those who fall in this category,” Obama said in the speech. “We must have fair procedures so that we don’t make mistakes. We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified.”

Obama has vowed to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay amid international condemnation of the treatment of detainees, but he has run into political resistance at home.

The formalisation of the policy on prolonged detentions comes as the Obama administration struggles with how to prosecute other terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The administration has had to scramble to lobby against legislation pending in Congress — surprisingly put forward by some of Obama’s fellow Democrats — that would ban bringing suspects to US soil for prosecution in criminal courts.

Attorney General Eric Holder has pushed for criminal trials for many terrorism suspects and has urged lawmakers to not interfere with the administration’s powers to decide how to prosecute them.

Elisa Massimino, head of Human Rights First, said an executive order “limited to certain Guantanamo cases” was preferable to broader legislation on prevention detentions.

But she added that preventive detention policies, whether by the administration or Congress, “pose a serious threat to fundamental rights and are no substitute for criminal justice”.

“Reliance on indefinite detention as a path of least resistance is part of how we ended up in the Guantanamo mess in the first place,” Massimino added.

Terror trial of Guantanamo Bay detainee charged with buying explosives for U.S. embassy bombings begins in New York

The first civilian trial of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee will begin in New York today.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, from Tanzania, is accused of helping al Qaeda to carry out the 1998 bombings on U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya which killed 224 people.

Ghailani was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and taken to Guantanamo in 2006, where his lawyers say he was tortured.

Other detainees have been tried in military commissions, but Ghailani is the first to be tried in the civilian courts.

If the trial is successful, it could pave the way for the Obama administration to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.


 

Test case: Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani goes on trial accused of helping al Qaeda to carry out bombings on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998

Detained: Ghailani has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2006

It is also a test case for the U.S. President's pledge to close the military base in Cuba by next January.

Ghailani, said to be in his 30s, is accused of purchasing a truck and explosives used in the Tanzania attack and of conspiring with Osama bin Laden and other members of al Qaeda to kill Americans.

Jonathan Turley, law professor at George Washington University, said: 'Ghailani is one of the lucky ones who will be given a real trial in front of a real judge.

'The Obama administration seems to be suggesting that they are willing to give this a try and if successful, they might allow it for trial of other people.'

Ghailani was subject to what the government referred to as 'enhanced interrogation' at secret prisons run by the CIA before he was moved to Guantanamo.


His lawyers said he endured torture. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing last year.

Yesterday, U.S. marshals escorted him from Cuba to New York for the trial.

Critics of trying terrorism suspects in civilian courts have said it could lead to the leaking of government secrets and any evidence obtained through torture could be inadmissible.

Mr Turley said: 'He's charged with a crime that occurred 12 years ago. That's a very long time to go without a trial.

'Witnesses become scarce, evidence become stale and memories fade.'

Ghailani faces life in prison if convicted.

Charges: Ghailani is accused of purchasing the truck and explosives used in the attacks

Blast: 224 people were killed in the two bombings at U.S. embassies and more than 5,000 injured

A day in the life at Guantanamo: The eerie images of leg irons and 'life lessons' at America's darkest prison r

Unhindered: The detainees also appear free to exercise and talk together relatively undisturbed in the yard

Handcuffs line the wall of a tool shed in the camp

Big Brother: As if the fence was not enough, dozens of security cameras are also placed along the fence - along with watchtowers manned by armed guards

Dinnertime: The detainees are allowed to serve themselves from carts wheeled in to the detention centre

Anger: An inmate appears to let his temper get the best of him as the teacher walks him through the 'life lesson', where prisoners are taught skills such as resume writing

Heart of darkness: A guard watches over inmates as they attend the 'life lessons' at Guantanamo Bay in these images taken on March 29, 2010

Detention: One inmate, his hands free but his legs shackled to the floor, reads during the class as guards in protective clothing shackled another inmate to the ground behind him

Neighbours: One detainee pops his head in at the door of another's cell - blissfully blocking out the image of the leg shackles that had him chained to the floor just hours earlier

Barbed wire: The fence surrounding the exercise yard does not allow the impression of freedom to last

Despair: A gloved guard reaches for a detainee as he leans his head on the metal table

Transport shackles: After the classes, the detainees are frisked and chained to be taken back to their cells

They are scenes of tediousness rather than of terror or torture.

But the shackles and barbed wire imply the threat behind the boredom, as these never-before-seen images of life inside the prison at Guantanamo Bay show.

The inane round of exercise, packaged meals and 'life lessons' is now everything to these, the few remaining detainees - who have never been charged with any crimes - at Guantanamo.
Today fewer than 200 detainees are in custody at the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba, compared with about 780 who have been jailed within its razor-wire fences at some point.

Some of those who remain have been cleared for release by Pentagon review panels, but have not been repatriated for fears they could be mistreated in their native countries.

Others are considered among the highest-value terrorism suspects, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the 9/11 attack.
In these images, the camp has an empty, leftover feel - as though the few who are left are simply waiting.

Despite the level of danger attached to them, they are allowed to associate freely in the exercise yard and pop their heads into each other's cells.

Their food is brought to them on a cart, carefully wrapped in plastic and with anything that could have been used as a weapon removed.

They attend 'life lessons', classes in which they are taught mundane skills such as writing a resume while chained to the cold metal floor by padded leg irons.

They are frisked as they are returned to their cells for another long night.
The pictures have all been approved by the U.S. military and seem surprisingly insipid - but the barbed wire, cameras, armed guards and shackles all belie the darker threat behind them.

Barack Obama has vowed to close Guantanamo Bay, an international blight on America's moral reputation.

The U.S. President called it a 'recruiting tool for terrorists' as critics demanded to know how Washington could reconcile torture and detention without trial with its message of peace and democracy.

But despite the obvious problems with leaving the camp open, Mr Obama has run into even bigger problems with trying to close it.
He has had trouble lining up help from other countries and even his own political party: Republicans and some Democrats have vehemently opposed moving terror suspects to U.S. soil, citing security fears.

The tribunal system for prosecuting terrorism suspects, which Mr Obama had put on hold for months, is expected to begin revving up this summer with modifications.

The next inmate scheduled for trial is Omar Khadr, a Canadian accused of killing an American solider with a grenade in Afghanistan when he was 15.

The Obama administration has said it wants to hold the detainees in an Illinois prison, but Congress first has to both approve the money to buy the prison and change current law barring detainees from entering the country for anything other than trial.

The president's self-imposed deadline to close Guantanamo passed in January. U.S. officials refuse to predict when the detention centre will get a new date for closure.

Meanwhile in Guantanamo, the chained prisoners exercise, talk, go to class - and wait.

Find a Job Dating Wine E-Editions Feedback My Stories Wednesday, Mar 10 2010 3PM 5°C 6PM 4°C 5-Day Forecast U.S. intelligence officers waterboarded 9/11 mastermind 160 times, says ex-MI5 boss

U.S intelligence agencies deliberately concealed their mistreatment of terror suspects, a former head of MI5 claimed last night.

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller also said she had only learnt that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been waterboarded - a total of 160 times - after retiring from the Security Service in 2007.

In a speech to the Mile End Group at the House of Lords, Lady Manningham-Buller also revealed that Britain protested against the treatment of terror suspects.

'The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing,' said the former head of the domestic spy agency.
They were 'very keen to conceal from us what was happening'.

She said she had wondered, in 2002 and 2003, how the US had been able to supply the UK with intelligence from Mohammed.

'I said to my staff, 'Why is he talking?' because our experience of Irish prisoners, Irish terrorists, was that they never said anything,' she said.

'They said, well, the Americans say he is very proud of his achievements when questioned about it.

'It wasn't actually until after I retired that I read that, in fact, he had been waterboarded 160 times.'
She said British spies are proud to be quietly effective, unlike the gung-ho U.K. intelligence officers portrayed in TV dramas.

But she joked that members of U.S. President George W. Bush's administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, may have been inspired by on-screen excess.

'One of the sad things is Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush all watched "24",' Lady Manningham-Buller said, referring to the popular TV show about a counter-terrorist agent, starring Kiefer Sutherland.

Her intervention follows intense controversy over British agents' alleged collusion with U.S. counterparts employing torture techniques.

It erupted last month after the disclosure of what was described as the 'cruel, inhuman and degrading' treatment of Binyam Mohamed, the British resident formerly held at Guantanamo Bay.
Ministers and current MI5 chief Jonathan Evans have insisted there was no collusion by UK security forces.

But there are enduring questions about exactly when they learnt that the U.S. apparently changed its rules on torture after the 9/11 attacks.

The security services are also under pressure over claims that they have a 'culture of suppression' about such matters.

Lady Manningham-Buller said the Government had lodged 'protests' with the Americans about its treatment of detainees, but refused to elaborate.

She went on to say that the allegations of complicity in torture could disrupt MI5's work.

'The allegations of collusion in torture and the lack of respect for human rights will wound those individuals personally and collectively, and in some respects - whether proven or not - it will make it harder for them to do their jobs,' she said.


Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller said she had only learnt that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been waterboarded after retiring in 2007

Human rights activists demonstrate waterboarding on a volunteer in a protest outside Capitol Hill, Washington

Cruel, inhuman and degrading' treatment: Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Binyam Mohamed

Mississippi River town welcomes The White House decision to move up to 100 Guantanamo Bay detainees to this town.Economic Boost.

In this Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 file photo, the Thomson Correctional Center, is seen in Thomson, Ill. The Thomson Correctional Center was one of several potential sites evaluated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons but has emerged as a leading option to house detainees held at Navy-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.



Map locates Thomson, Illinois, where a prison will receive Guantanamo Bay detainees.In this Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 file photo, an aerial view of the Thomson Correctional Center is seen in Thomson , Ill. The Thomson Correctional Center was one of several potential sites evaluated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons but has emerged as a leading option to house detainees held at Navy-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


The White House said Tuesday that it will move its war court from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to an underused prison in Illinois, but officials couldn't say how soon or at what cost.

Administration officials declined to estimate how many of the 210 detainees at Guantánamo would move to the Thomson Correctional Center, but White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said he wouldn't dispute an estimate by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., of about 100 detainees.

A letter to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and a presidential memorandum made official Tuesday the federal government's intention to acquire the largely empty maximum-security facility about 150 miles west of Chicago.

Many Illinois officials and congressional Democrats support the idea, but Republicans cite concerns about Americans' safety.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the American people "already have rejected bringing terrorists to U.S. soil."

Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who is seeking Obama's old Senate seat, said he believes moving Guantánamo detainees to Illinois will make the state a greater threat for terrorist attacks.

Quinn dismissed safety concerns, promising that the Thomson facility would be "the most secure prison of all time."

"It will pose no danger to the community," National Security Adviser James Jones said of the decision to move the detainees.

The Thomson facility will receive upgrades that take it beyond the security level at any current U.S. prison, including the nation's only "supermax" facility in Florence, Colo. Already built to maximum-security standards, the 146-acre Thomson facility will receive more upgrades from the Defense Department, including additional fencing and other security technology.

The Thomson facility was built by Illinois in 2001 as a state prison. Local officials hoped it would improve the area's economy, but state budget problems have kept the 1,600-cell prison from being fully used. It now houses about 200 minimum-security inmates.

Administration officials said they could not lay out a time frame for a transfer of detainees from the Navy-run detention center to Thomson. They said the administration would have to work with Congress to amend laws and secure funding before any prisoners are brought to U.S. soil.

Under the plan outlined Tuesday, the Thomson prison will be purchased by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and run primarily as a standard federal prison. A portion of the facility would be leased to the Defense Department to house a limited number of Guantánamo detainees.

A senior White House official said in a background briefing that the 146-acre prison was the intended site for commissions trials, meant for war-on-terrorism captives accused of committing war crimes.

The official also said the administration intended to transfer any so-called indefinite detainees – whom the president determines must be held indefinitely but cannot be tried – to the facility, which would require congressional action.

The letter to Quinn said acquiring Thomson would allow the federal government to carry out Obama's order to close the facility at Guantánamo, where suspected terrorists have been housed since 2002.

Of detainees still at Guantánamo, five have been designated for federal trial, with 25 under consideration. The Pentagon's chief war crimes prosecutor, Navy Capt. John Murphy, has said his staff is building war crimes court cases for as many as 55 of the 210 detainees now at Guantánamo.

Two senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said current law would allow Guantánamo detainees awaiting military commission proceedings to be transferred to Thomson and would allow the facility to become the new site for those proceedings.

Guantánamo detainees awaiting prosecution through civilian courts would not go to Thomson but to the jurisdiction where they would be tried, such as alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four fellow accused. Attorney General Eric Holder has said they will be tried in New York.

Detainees to be sent to other countries would stay at Guantánamo until their departure to those countries, the officials said.

he White House decision to move up to 100 Guantanamo Bay detainees to this dying Mississippi River town has folks here seeing dollar signs, not suspected terrorists.

Many people in this rural community are hopeful that their willingness to house the prisoners in a nearly empty penitentiary will offer an economic boost — helping to ease steep job losses and dwindling tax revenue needed to fix roads and pay for schools.

"This is probably the economic-development opportunity of a lifetime for northwest Illinois, and we intend to take full advantage of it," said Russ Simpson, who leads an economic-development group for a three-county area that includes tiny Thomson, about 150 miles west of Chicago.

Until now, the expansive Thomson Correctional Center has been a big disappointment in the town of about 450, where there are no stoplights and the two-block business district is lined with old-fashioned buildings that look like they belong on the set of a Western movie.

The prison was built by the state in 2001 with the promise of thousands of jobs, but budget problems prevented it from fully opening. It has 1,600 cells, but currently houses only about 200 minimum-security inmates and 82 staff members, according to the state.

Businesses opened in anticipation of an influx of prison workers and visitors, but they have since closed. Builders canceled plans to build new housing. Neighbors moved away to find better jobs.

The unemployment rate in Carroll County, where Thomson is located, stood at 11.1 percent in October, the latest month for which figures are available. The national average is 10 percent.

"It's been a big disappointment for eight years. Heartbreak," said Rick McGinnis, who owns Kyle's, a bar that has been in his family for 62 years. Now, he says, people will move to the area, put their children in school, pay taxes and buy beer.

"That's the best thing that could happen to it," said McGinnis, who remembers the good money his bar made when the prison was being built.

President Barack Obama ordered the federal Bureau of Prisons to buy the prison. The decision is an important step toward closing Guantanamo Bay, which has long been a global symbol of the Bush administration's approach to national security. The Illinois prison is expected to house both federal inmates and no more than 100 Guantanamo detainees.

But Tuesday's announcement will not solve all the administration's Guantanamo-related problems. More than 200 detainees will remain at Guantanamo, and the White House faces other legal issues and potential resistance from Congress.

Administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they could not yet lay out a time frame for the transfer of detainees from the Navy-run detention facility to Thomson.

They said the administration would have to work with Congress to amend laws and secure funding before any prisoners are brought to U.S. soil. They would also need to strengthen the prison's perimeter security.

The officials said military tribunals for potential detainees would be held at Thomson. They also said the facility could house detainees who are ordered to be held indefinitely but cannot be tried.

Federal and state officials estimate the federal takeover will create as many as 3,000 jobs in the area within several years, including an estimated 800 to 900 at the prison and at local businesses that would sprout up as a result.

"I hope it's a true Christmas," Village President Jerry Hebeler said. "Everybody's been down in the dumps for eight years."

While local officials and many Democratic lawmakers, including Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Gov. Pat Quinn, touted the plan as an economic boon, others warned it would make the state a target for terrorist attacks.

Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, who is seeking Obama's old Senate seat, has lobbied other officials to oppose the plan. On Tuesday, he issued a statement saying the administration has not adequately addressed safety concerns.

"Without a vote, public hearing or detailed plan, the administration is moving quickly to force the citizens of Illinois to accept this unnecessary risk," Kirk said.

But many here do not see it that way.

"There's the political side about whether the Guantanamo detainees should be brought to American soil, but once that argument is settled, we may as well have them here," said Todd Smith, who owns Buck's Barn Golf Resort, a recreational complex about two miles north of the prison with an 18-hole golf course, 53-room hotel and restaurant.

"Any place that would have been a good target for terrorist before won't change on the basis of where the prisoners are being held."

He had shelved plans to expand the business several years ago, but Tuesday's news "gives us a chance to dust those plans off" and maybe build new single-family homes around the golf course to house prison employees.

The Thomson Correctional Center was one of several potential sites evaluated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house detainees from the Navy-run prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Officials in Standish, Mich., hoped they would get some of the detainees at a maximum-security prison that was being closed to save money, but Michigan never rolled out the welcome mat the way some other states did.

McGinnis, the bar owner, said that if the federal government did not buy the prison, the town "probably would have died."

Lisa Johnson, who helps manage the Station convenience store in Thomson, says economic interests trump any lingering security concerns.

"Everybody's sick and tired of paying taxes on something that's not bringing in any revenue," she said. "Some people are afraid because they use the word terrorist. ... I'm concerned too, but now that the prison is here, fill it up."

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