Holder opposes bill on terror detainees

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Attorney General Eric Holder says he opposes a bill in Congress that would block the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to stand trial in the United States.

Holder wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday in opposition to language in the proposed 2011 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, a Department of Justice release said.

The language in the act would prohibit the use of any funds to transfer detainees from the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States for any purpose.

"This provision goes well beyond existing law and would unwisely restrict the ability of the executive branch to prosecute alleged terrorists in federal courts or military commissions in the United States as well as its ability to incarcerate those convicted in such tribunals," Holder said in his letter.

Holder called the proposed section of the act "an extreme and risky encroachment on the authority of the executive branch to determine when and where to prosecute terrorist suspects."

In his letter, Holder urged Reid and McConnell to remove the section from the bill "or from any other appropriations bill that the Senate may consider."