Closing Guantanamo, the consequences

Barack Obama signed on Thursday - the second full day of its presidency - the executive order to close Guantanamo Bay within one year. He also ordered the review of military trials for terror suspects and banned the harshest interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding.

The questions not yet answered (via The New York Times): What should be done with terrorists who cannot be tried in American courts, either because evidence against them was obtained by torture or because intelligence is too sensitive to use in court? Should some interrogation methods remain secret to keep Al Qaeda from training to resist them? How can the United States make sure prisoners transferred to other countries will not be tortured?

Lawmakers troubled by reports on ex-Gitmo detainee

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congresswoman says reports that a man released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is now an al-Qaida leader in Yemen should not slow the Obama administration's determination to quickly close the facility.

Rep. Jane Harman, a Democrat from California, said Friday that President Barack Obama has to "proceed extremely carefully" in closing the prison.

But she says there is no justification for "disappearing people" in a place outside the reach of U.S. law.

Congressman Pete Hoekstra, of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, criticized Obama's executive order to close the prison as "very short on specifics."

Interviewed alongside Harman on CBS's "The Early Show," Hoekstra said as many as 10 percent of the men released from Guantanamo have returned to the battlefield.

About the Yemen case, International Herald Tribune