Report: Obama to review Gitmo cases

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- The administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will conduct a systematic review of the terrorism detainees being held in Cuba, sources say.

The cases of the approximately 250 prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay as "illegal combatants" linked to terrorism will each be reviewed by the incoming Obama administration with an eye toward closing the controversial U.S. military prison camp, unnamed sources told The Washington Post Wednesday.

The sources said Obama aides believe that while it will be difficult to transfer the foreign nationals held there to other countries, the international goodwill generated by the move to close Guantanamo could persuade formerly unwilling nations to accept some of the detainees.

Others could be transferred to the U.S. courts but that will present a thicket of legal problems, the newspaper said. Still undecided is how detainees being held on the basis of classified information could be tried fairly in open court, as well as how to treat confessions or information obtained through torture.

Also undecided is how the Obama administration will handle terrorism suspects arrested in the future and whether it would be willing to hold such suspects without charges, the Post said.