Post-Guantanamo planning under way

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Broad outlines are beginning to emerge of the plans to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where terror suspects are held, experts say.

The Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday that many of the 250 detainees at the prison camp will likely be transferred to their home country or a third country for continued detention.

Meanwhile, others will be set free, and between 20 and 80 detainees are expected to face some form of terrorism trial, the newspaper reported.

Some analysts say the Obama administration should create a special national security court to prosecute terrorism cases. Still others say the U.S. federal court system is capable of handling the cases.

The newspaper said not under consideration is continuing to use the military commission process the Bush administration and Congress established at Guantanamo Bay.

"We very much need a clean, decisive break from current (Bush administration) policies," says Sarah Mendelson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Only a bold shift is going to convey to the world that we have turned a page on post-9/11 counter-terrorism policies."