US likely to bring detainees home

‘‘The Justice Department didn’t have a plan. State didn’t have a plan. It’s astounding to me that these cases have been pending for so long and nobody came up with a contingency plan,’’ a senior defence official said on condition of anonymity.

To avoid ferrying prisoners and government lawyers to federal courts across the country, as might be required, Pentagon and Justice Department officials said they have discussed moving all detainees to a military prison within the US to enable the consolidation of all the proceedings in one court. Possible locations could be Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, or Charleston, South Carolina.

Another option would be to allow prisoners to file for writs of habeas corpus — a demand for legal justification for their imprisonment — at a makeshift court at the base in Cuba. Meanwhile, the Pentagon on Tuesday named officers who will comprise the first commission to review the cases of three prisoners. Retired Army Col. Peter Brownback III was named presiding officer and four other officers were assigned as commissioners.

The defendants will be David Hicks of Australia, Ali Hamza Ahamad Sulayman Al Bahlul of Yemen and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi of Sudan. No trial dates were set

—(LAT-WP)