With Gitmo trials blocked, what does U.S. do now?

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration likely will have to extend rights to terrorism suspects at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that it has denied them for years, after the Supreme Court invalidated the government's system of military trials, officials and experts said Thursday.

Senior administration officials acknowledged the ruling on Thursday scuttled their plans to put up to 80 detainees through administration-crafted "military commissions" — with extremely limited rights — and said it is unclear how they will respond.

The decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the detainees must be treated according to international standards sent officials scrambling to evaluate options for the approximately 470 detainees at Guantánamo Bay, some of whom have been held for more than four years without trials.

The choices, experts and government officials said Thursday, include putting suspects through time-tested military courts-

martial, charging them in U.S. criminal courts or working with Congress to develop a new set of rules to comply with the court's decision.

The administration also could ask foreign governments to try the more than 150 prisoners it considers hard-core terrorism suspects. The rest are likely to be returned to their home countries for further detention or release.

But if the United States decides it wants to hold the trials, detainees likely will gain more access to the evidence against them and the right to be present for much or all of the proceedings, both of which were denied in some circumstances under the military-commission rules, the experts and officials said.

The court did not rule on whether Guantánamo Bay should be closed, nor did its ruling affect operations at the facility.

Indeed, the government said the detainees won't be going anywhere soon, except to a new jail under construction.

"Nobody gets a 'get out of jail free' card," said White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. "This will not mean closing down Guantánamo."

A Halliburton subsidiary is preparing the new $30 million maximum-security jail at the naval base to open in August.

Military officials said Thursday that scheduled military-commissions hearings for 10 suspects had been indefinitely suspended.

Guantánamo once held about 750 terrorism suspects, a number of whom have been released in recent months. Administration officials said Thursday it now holds 470 to 490 detainees. Globalsecurity.org, a military-analysis group, said that as of Monday, Guantánamo held 536 detainees.

The court decision comes at a troubled time at Guantánamo that has included three detainee suicides, rioting and at least two attempted drug overdoses in the past six weeks.

Courts-martial urged

Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a professor of international affairs at the U.S. Military Academy who visited Guantánamo Bay last week, said the military commissions were destined to fail. The government instead should have used military courts-martial and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which grants defendants more rights, he said.

Senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee vowed to quickly develop new legislation to govern military trials for terrorism suspects, announcing just hours after the court's ruling their intent to hold hearings this summer and develop law by September.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he plans to reintroduce legislation next month that would set out provisions for military commissions.

Senior administration officials, declining to be identified, had a teleconference call with reporters Thursday.

"There's no particular direction that we're heading in right now except to review the decision and consider all options that would be available to us and Congress," one official said.

Several officials said the U.S. federal courts are too limiting for trying detainees, in part because the strict rules of evidence could cause problems in cases where suspects were arrested by a foreign government, held for years, transferred without critical evidence and need witnesses who are difficult, if not impossible, to find.

Praise for ruling

Human-rights groups hailed the court decision as a major victory for the rule of law in the United States. The ruling appeared to grant detainees certain protections under the Geneva Conventions Common Article III, which could require the U.S. government to treat all detainees in the war on terrorism — whether they are held in the United States or abroad, or in secret facilities operated by the CIA — according to international standards.

Unlike evidence in most criminal or military court proceedings, the bulk of the government's evidence against suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay can often be circumstantial and classified. The cases against many Guantánamo Bay detainees may rest on statements gleaned from interrogations of prisoners throughout the world, as well as intelligence collected by the CIA and others.

Safeguarding such information is a principal concern of the U.S. government.

The State Department has sought to transfer all but the most dangerous detainees to their countries of origin. But this has proved problematic, said Pierre Prosper, the former ambassador at large for war crimes.

"Some countries had reservations about inheriting the security risk that the detainees posed," Prosper said.

Material from the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and Seattle Times archives is included in this report.