A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on war crimes tribunals being held at Guantanamo navy base will have little effect on the detention camp that holds 450 foreign captives, the camp commander said.
"I don't think there's any direct outcome on our detention operation," Rear Adm. Harry Harris, the prison commander, said in an interview this week.
The high court upheld Thursday a Guantanamo defendant's challenge to President Bush's power to create the military tribunals to try suspected al Qaeda conspirators and Taliban supporters after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Harris said he would build a second courtroom if the tribunals are allowed to proceed but little else would change because the court was not asked to rule on Guantanamo itself, a prison camp that human rights groups, the United Nations and foreign governments have sharply criticized.
Ten detainees at Guantanamo have been charged before the tribunals, and prosecutors have said they will charge as many as 25 more if the court rules in favor of the commissions.
"If they rule against the government I don't see how that's going to affect us. From my perspective I think the impact will be negligible," Harris told Reuters.
About 120 other prisoners at the base in have been cleared for release, or transfer to their homelands where Washington expects them to remain in detention.
But the director of interrogations at Guantanamo said many of the rest could be held a very long time because U.S. officials will not release those whom they are convinced have the connections, training and means to carry out attacks.
"Nobody wants to be the first person to allow the next 9/11 to happen," said interrogations chief Paul Rester. "Emptying this place is not my goal."
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