Bush Unveils Plan to Transfer Gitmo Detainees

The Bush administration's plan to transfer nearly 70 percent of the 510 detainees at Guantanamo to Afghanistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia might quell some of the global criticism of the U.S. handling of the war on terror. But there are a number of hurdles that still stand in the way, both legal and practical.

Last March, a federal judge barred the government from transferring 13 Yemenis at Gitmo to other countries without giving the captives a chance to weigh in, on the grounds that they might be sent to nations where they could be tortured. Indefinite detention without charges at Guantanamo could translate into the same in another country, plus more aggressive physical harm. And there are several other legal battles pending, including one that revolves around whether the detainees can go to federal court to challenge their confinement.

Meanwhile, though, military authorities are planning to restart the military tribunals that were halted last year on orders of another federal judge. Thanks in part to Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, whose vote with two of his colleagues on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's order, the tribunals are back on, with the trials of several alleged terrorists like Australian David Hicks and an alleged driver for Osama bin Laden expected to gear up in the fall. That is, of course, unless there's an appeal to the Supreme Court; Roberts, if he's on the court by then, would have to recuse himself from the case.