Pentagon eyes spending for Guantanamo trials

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Oct 26: The Pentagon may need hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding from Congress to build courtrooms, housing and other infrastructure required to run military trials for terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, officials has said.

Cully Stimson, the Defense Department's deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs, said military officials are considering two infrastructure plans that involve boosting the number of courtrooms at the detention center from one to as many as 10.

The plans encompass everything from constructing more housing for lawyers to ramping up the military base's capacity to provide power and water, according to Stimson and military officials at Guantanamo.

The military commissions system, approved by Congress in September to try suspected al Qaeda and Taliban members, will require a months-long building effort at significant cost, those officials said.

Brig. Gen. Edward Leacock, deputy commander of the joint task force that runs the facility holding more than 400 suspected terrorists, said the price tag could run into the ''hundreds of millions.'' ''The logistics end of it will be pretty significant,'' Leacock said, referring to the cost and time needed to build the support infrastructure at the base, referred to as Gitmo.

''Gitmo does not have a Home Depot. The process of getting supplies and materials is a major operation. It takes a while to build things down here,'' he told reporters on a small boat shuttling across the waters that separate a US naval base from the military detention center.

TOP SUSPECTS Military planners and engineers considering the infrastructure needs left Guantanamo for Washington yesterday and their proposals are expected to be presented to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld next week, Leacock said.

President George W Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 this month amid election-year criticism that the White House has sought to focus on national security and the fight against terrorism instead of violence in Iraq.

Bush said the act would help bring to trial some of those responsible for the September 11 attacks. Guantanamo holds 14 of the government's top terrorism suspects including the suspected mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and two other al Qaeda leaders, Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Zubaydah.

The US government expects to try between 60 and 80 of the Guantanamo detainees, according to Stimson. Defense officials have said pre-trial proceedings could begin in early 2007 with trials starting about midway through the year. Some detainees may be tried together, Stimson said.

Now, the Guantanamo detention facility includes buildings along the palm tree- and cacti-lined bay -- a view military guards say detainees cannot see from any point within the camp that is surrounded by rows of 12-foot chain-link fences covered in green tarps and topped with spirals of barbed wire.

One courtroom is available, but it can only accommodate single-defendant proceedings.

The Pentagon plans to bring congressional staff to Guantanamo in two weeks to show them the extent of infrastructure building required for the commissions, Stimson said.

The Pentagon has already faced increased costs for the Guantanamo detention facilities after riots by 20 detainees and three attempted suicides early this year led commanders to order upgrades for a new detention building to raise it to maximum-security standards.

Reuters