Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that a new facility must be opened in order to hold detainees currently occupying the Guantánamo Bay detention facility before the Obama administration can shut it down.

“It is still the intention of this administration to close the facility at Guantánamo,” Holder said. “It serves as a recruiting tool for those who have sworn to harm this nation [and] we will close GITMO as quickly as we can, as soon as we can.”

Holder said that the Department of Justice is continuing to eye a $145 million maximum security prison that remains unopened in Thomson, Illinois as a possible replacement. The prospective site currently belongs to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The Illinois maximum security facility will hold the 240 detainees currently held in Cuba, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants in the 9/11 terror trial if found guilty.

Holder touched upon Mohammed's trial, which was initially proposed to be held in a New York civilian court but is now under consideration again after New York officials raised questions concerning security issues.

“The administration is in the process of reviewing the decision as to where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants should actually be tried,” Holder said. “New York is not off the table, though we have to take into consideration the concerns that have been raised by officials and the community.”

Holder told the committee that he expects a decision regarding the trial to be made in the coming weeks.

“As I’ve said from the outset, this is a close call. It should be clear to everyone by now that there are many legal, national security and practical factors to be considered here. As a consequence, there are many perspectives on what the most appropriate and effective forum is.”