stormy
06-12-2003, 10:33 PM
Gitmo Eyes Possible Execution Chamber
Associated Press
June 10, 2003
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Guantanamo officials are ready to provide a courtroom, a prison and an execution chamber if the order comes to try terror suspects at the base in Cuba, the mission commander said.
Although no new directive has been given and no plans have been approved, a handful of experts are looking at what it will take to try, imprison and, if need be, execute detainees accused of links to Afghanistan's fallen Taliban regime or to the al-Qaida terror network.
"We have a number of plans that we work for short-term and long-term strategies but that's all they are - plans," Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said in a telephone interview Monday.
Isolated on Cuba's eastern tip and out of the jurisdiction of U.S. civilian courts, Guantanamo is a likely location for U.S. military trials.
Last month, officials named Army Col. Frederic Borch III the chief prosecutor and Air Force Col. Will Gunn as chief defense lawyer for the proposed trials. The Pentagon has listed 18 war crimes and eight other offenses that could be tried, including terrorist acts, and has issued rules for the tribunals.
Borch said he was looking at prosecuting at least 10 possible cases before a tribunal. (http://www.military.com/NewsContent?file=FL_ gitmo_061003&ESRC=dod.nl)
Associated Press
June 10, 2003
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Guantanamo officials are ready to provide a courtroom, a prison and an execution chamber if the order comes to try terror suspects at the base in Cuba, the mission commander said.
Although no new directive has been given and no plans have been approved, a handful of experts are looking at what it will take to try, imprison and, if need be, execute detainees accused of links to Afghanistan's fallen Taliban regime or to the al-Qaida terror network.
"We have a number of plans that we work for short-term and long-term strategies but that's all they are - plans," Army Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller said in a telephone interview Monday.
Isolated on Cuba's eastern tip and out of the jurisdiction of U.S. civilian courts, Guantanamo is a likely location for U.S. military trials.
Last month, officials named Army Col. Frederic Borch III the chief prosecutor and Air Force Col. Will Gunn as chief defense lawyer for the proposed trials. The Pentagon has listed 18 war crimes and eight other offenses that could be tried, including terrorist acts, and has issued rules for the tribunals.
Borch said he was looking at prosecuting at least 10 possible cases before a tribunal. (http://www.military.com/NewsContent?file=FL_ gitmo_061003&ESRC=dod.nl)