Friday, January 23, 2009

Lawmakers troubled by reports on ex-Gitmo detainee

13 hours ago

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.

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