Feinstein, Harkin aim to shut Guantánamo through defense authorization bill process

Two Senate Democrats are working together to attach an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. The probability of a presidential veto of the bill, already high due to the looming Iraq and habeas corpus provisions, would only rise if Sens. Tom Harkin and Dianne Feinstein succeed in their Guantánamo push.

Feinstein, of California, said she and fellow Democrat Harkin, of Iowa, likely will combine their competing bills into a single amendment that could be offered to the $648.8 billion fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill.

{mosads}“It’s hard to tell” whether there are enough votes to win the Senate’s approval, Feinstein said yesterday. “I haven’t had a chance to work it, but this is an obvious chance to move it.”

The defense bill, which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to bring to the floor before the July 4th recess, is turning into a minefield for presidential hopefuls as it becomes a vehicle for some of the most contentious battles brewing in Congress. In addition to the Guantánamo Bay measure, Senate Democrats plan to use the bill for making another statement against the Iraq war and for restoring habeas corpus rights to alleged-terrorist detainees.

Some Republicans warn adding the Feinstein-Harkin plan, along with the bipartisan habeas corpus bill that passed the Judiciary Committee earlier this month, could sink the popular defense bill.

“If you want to kill the defense authorization bill, that’s a great way to do it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned.

But Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a supporter of the detention facility, said he doubted that the Democratic language on Guantánamo Bay would kill the defense bill, though he characterized the effort as nothing but a “symbolic” gesture to liberal critics of the facility.

Critics say the detention center inhumanely houses detainees and has brought widespread damage to the United States’ reputation around the world. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier this month became the latest high-profile Republican to call for closing the facility, joining presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Harkin and Feinstein take disparate approaches to shuttering Guantánamo, making the task of melding them potentially difficult. Harkin would require the government to charge detainees once they are transferred, either in federal courts, courts-martial or the military commissions crafted by the Bush administration and increasingly challenged by the judiciary.

Feinstein’s original bill would allow detainees to remain in custody without charge but bring their treatment in line with international law. In addition, military commissions would not be permissible venues.

“The devil’s in the details,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Washington director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has helped the two Democrats with their proposals. “The Harkin legislation is preferable … [but] if they can find ways to join both bills, I think they can do it.”

Unlike Feinstein, Harkin includes a clause to block further congressional appropriations for Guantánamo until the closure process begins, making his language a prime candidate for addition on the floor to the defense spending bill if the defense authorization fight falls short.

Though Democratic White House candidates long have campaigned on a vow to close Guantánamo, only recently has the field begun endorsing legislation to accomplish that goal. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) endorsed Feinstein’s bill last week, and Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) signed on to Harkin’s this week. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and McCain, both of whom support closing Guantánamo, have yet to endorse either bill.

Voting to close Guantánamo presents a quandary for candidates on all levels of the 2008 ticket, particularly red-state Democrats wary of GOP charges that the Harkin and Feinstein plans would import alleged criminals to U.S. shores.
Fredrickson urged Democrats to reject such talking points.

“They say, ‘If you do this, you’re coddling terrorists.’ It’s simply an appeal to basic fear,” she said. “Whenever the president says, ‘You have to do it my way or terrorists will come after us’ … [voters] don’t believe that anymore.”

The ACLU will hold a rally and grassroots action day next week aimed at bringing Guantánamo shutdown and habeas restoration to the forefront, hosted by Harkin, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and other senior lawmakers. Further fueling the debate, the U.S. transferred six more prisoners out of Guantánamo yesterday, one of whom may face political persecution in his home country of Tunisia.