Senator Says Lifetime Terror Detentions 'Bad Idea'
Sun Jan 2, 2005 10:39 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A reported U.S. plan to keep some suspected
terrorists imprisoned for a lifetime even if the government lacks evidence
to charge them in courts was swiftly condemned on Sunday as a "bad idea" by
a leading Republican senator.
The Pentagon and the CIA have asked the White House to decide on a more
permanent approach for those it was unwilling to set free or turn over to
U.S. or foreign courts, the Washington Post said in a report that cited
intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials.

Some detentions could potentially last a lifetime, the newspaper said.

Influential senators denounced the idea as probably unconstitutional.

Senator Says Lifetime Terror Detentions 'Bad Idea'
Sun Jan 2, 2005 10:39 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A reported U.S. plan to keep some suspected
terrorists imprisoned for a lifetime even if the government lacks evidence
to charge them in courts was swiftly condemned on Sunday as a "bad idea"
by a leading Republican senator.
The Pentagon and the CIA have asked the White House to decide on a more
permanent approach for those it was unwilling to set free or turn over to
U.S. or foreign courts, the Washington Post said in a report that cited
intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials.

Some detentions could potentially last a lifetime, the newspaper said.

Influential senators denounced the idea as probably unconstitutional.

"It's a bad idea. So we ought to get over it and we ought to have a very
careful, constitutional look at this," Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of
Indiana, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on "Fox
News Sunday."

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, senior Democrat on the Armed Services
Committee, cited earlier U.S. Supreme Court decisions. "There must be some
modicum, some semblance of due process ... if you're going to detain
people, whether it's for life or whether it's for years," Levin said, also
on Fox.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The
State Department declined comment and a Pentagon spokeswoman, Lt. Col.
Ellen Krenke of the Air Force, had no information on the reported plan.

As part of a solution, the Defense Department, which holds 500 prisoners
at Guantanamo Bay, plans to ask the U.S. Congress for $25 million to build
a 200-bed prison to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a
military tribunal for lack of evidence, defense officials told the
Washington Post.

The new prison, dubbed Camp 6, would allow inmates more comfort and
freedom than they have now, and would be designed for prisoners the
government believes have no more intelligence to share, the newspaper
said.

"It would be modeled on a U.S. prison and would allow socializing among
inmates," the paper said.

"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?"'

The Post said the outcome of a review under way would also affect those
expected to be captured in the course of future counterterrorism
operations.

One proposal would transfer large numbers of Afghan, Saudi and Yemeni
detainees from the U.S. military's Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center
into new U.S.-built prisons in their home countries, it said.

The prisons would be operated by those countries, but the State
Department, where this idea originated, would ask them to abide by
recognized human rights standards and would monitor compliance, a senior
administration official was quoted as saying.