Letter to Bush: Shut Guantanamo

WASHINGTON - A group of 145 House members yesterday sent a letter to President Bush urging him to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and move the detainees there to military prisons in the United States.

"The closure of the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay would represent a positive first step toward restoring our international reputation as the leader of democracy and individual rights," the letter said.

The House members, all but one of them Democrats, also called for restoring Guantanamo prisoners' right to challenge their detentions in court.

"This will allow for the implementation of fair and transparent trials to bring enemies of our country to justice," they wrote. The lone Republican in the group was Rep. Walter Jones Jr. of North Carolina.

The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to review whether the detainees should be able to go to federal court to challenge their confinement. Congress passed a law last year that removed the ability of courts to hear detainees' challenges.

Under the law, the detainees receive hearings before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal, which determines whether they are enemy combatants. The hearings allow the government to use evidence that is secret or obtained by coercive interrogation methods.

The White House has been considering closing the prison at Guantanamo and transferring the detainees. About 375 prisoners are at the facility, and many have been there for more than five years. Few have been charged with crimes. Most are held because they have been determined to be security threats to the United States.

The letter argued that the facility had undermined the image of the United States as a "model of justice and protector of human rights around the world."