Senate to vote on blocking U.S. trials for Gitmo detainees

The administration is pushing back against the latest Congressional effort to thwart their plans to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and try the prisoners on U.S. soil.

The Senate will start debate today on the Commerce, Justice, and Science spending bill, and there will definitely be a vote on an amendment by Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, that would prevent any money from being spent to try detainees who had a hand in the 9/11 attack in federal civilian courts.

Among the most famous of these is Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks, who is sitting in Guantanamo now.

Graham’s long-held position, with the support of John McCain, R-AZ, and Joseph Lieberman, I-CT, is that military commissions are preferred. For one thing, if a prisoner is acquitted in a civilian trial, he could be set free, Graham argues. The Senator is a former Air Force lawyer.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder wrote a letter  last week to Senate leaders Harry Reid, D-NV, and Mitch McConnell, R-KY, with their opposition to the Graham amendment.

"Our departments are currently involved in a careful case by case evaluation of the cases of Guantanamo detainees… to determine whether they should be prosecuted in a [civilian] court or military commission," the officials wrote, warning it "would set a dangerous precedent, for Congress to restrict the discretion of either department to fund particular prosecutions."

Of course, Congress has been doing just that repeatedly since Obama took office. A whole host of last year’s spending bills included language restricting the transfer of detainees, often with Democratic support. A previous amendment offered by Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-HI, garnered 90 votes, showing just how reluctant Senate Democrats are to be seen as weak on the Guantanamo issue.

McConnell has also been skilled in helping to craft such amendments to pass easily and it’s in his interest to have the Guantanamo issue debated as much as possible because it plays for the GOP politically. As such, Republicans expect the Graham amendment to pass by a wide margin.

The Democrats’ defense for yielding to Republicans on Guantanamo has been that they are awaiting a detailed plan from Obama on how he plans to close the facility. There is widespread acknowledgment that Obama’s promise to get it done by January will not be fulfilled.

An administration official, speaking on background basis, told The Cable that "much progress has been made and more details on plans to close the facility are expected in the coming weeks."

The official also touted the reforms to the military commissions process that were signed into law last week as part of the fiscal 2010 defense policy bill.

There are some signs that Democrats are beginning to toughen on Guantanamo.

The Homeland Security Department funding bill that cleared Congress at the end of October had a provision that would allow the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to U.S. soil, only for prosecution. Many Congressional Republicans had wanted a complete ban.

Because of that, some on the Hill believe the Graham admendment won’t go through.

We don’t expect that members will vote to further tie the hands of the Administration as Graham amdt would do," said one senior Democratic Senate aide, "We do not expect it to pass."

Meanwhile, alleged embassy bomber Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani  has already been transferred to the U.S. to stand trial in a federal civilian court.

Obama himself defended the practice in a May speech at the National Archives.

"When feasible, we will try those who have violated American criminal laws in federal courts – courts provided for by the United States Constitution," he said, "Some have derided our federal courts as incapable of handling the trials of terrorists. They are wrong. Our courts and juries of our citizens are tough enough to convict terrorists, and the record makes that clear."

UPDATE: The Senate voted to table the Graham amendment late Thursday by a vote of 54-45. That pushes off consideration indefinitely.