Tent city built at Gitmo to hold joint trials

[unhappycamper]

Tent city built at Gitmo to hold joint trials
By Michael Melia - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Sep 7, 2007 16:57:55 EDT


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. is erecting tents at Guantanamo Bay where the military plans to hold war-crime tribunals for detainees beginning as early as March, officials said Thursday, marking a step back from previous plans to build a more expensive permanent structure.

The legal tent city is being built at a cost of $10 million to $12 million on an unused runway at the U.S. Naval Base in southeast Cuba. It will allow the military to hold six simultaneous trials.

~snip~

The blueprint is a shadow of the permanent facility that the Pentagon proposed building last year at a cost of up to $125 million but scrapped after an outcry from Congress.

~snip~

“The courtroom and complex are expeditionary in nature to minimize startup costs for high-value detainee trials,” Gordon said.

With a major legal challenge of the tribunal system pending, critics argued the U.S. military should not count on more trials taking place at the embattled detention center.

“It’s outrageous the U.S. government would go ahead with the reconstitution of courtrooms given that our friends and allies around the world and here in the U.S. are calling for the closure of Guantanamo,” said Wells Dixon, an attorney who represents several detainees.


Rest of article: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/09/ap_guantanamo_tentcity_070907/