Democrats to let detainees in U.S. for trial: aides

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a partial reprieve for President Barack Obama, congressional Democrats plan to allow detainees held in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be brought onto U.S. soil for trial, two congressional aides said on Wednesday.

The House of Representatives last month had approved a bill to permit transferring the detainees here only after a risk analysis was given to Congress and barred releasing them into the United States through September 30. A Senate measure also banned them from U.S. soil through September 30.

The Democratic compromise would permit detainees to be brought to the United States for trial but not permanent detention, the aides said, declining further identification because the details were not yet formally released.

The deal would also bar releasing any of the detainees into the United States through September 30, one of the aides said.

The Obama administration earlier this week brought the first detainee from the prison in Cuba to New York for trial, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian accused of being involved in the bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. Current laws do not address the disposition of Guantanamo detainees.

Democrats, who control the House and Senate, plan to include the provisions in a compromise $100 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which they hope to push through the two chambers by next week.

The two chambers approved different versions of the war-funding legislation and have been trying for weeks to hammer out a compromise package but have been stymied by issues like the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prison.

Obama has pledged to close the controversial prison by early 2010 and asked for $80 million in the legislation to begin that process. However, lawmakers had rejected his request and demanded a plan before allowing the detainees to be moved.