Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson speaks with Sacha Pfeiffer about his change-of-heart on Guantánamo and his belief that the 9/11 case should be settled rather than taken to trial.
A law passed by Congress in 2015 prevents Guantánamo inmates from entering the U.S. for any reason, including imprisonment. But Olson told NPR that he would"support modifying the law to allow these individuals to be kept in maximum-security prisons in the territory of the United States."
Asked if his public comments endorsing plea deals are meant to give President Biden political cover to settle the 9/11 case — a move likely to face opposition from some Republicans in Congress — Olson said,"that was not part of my motivation, but I hope that that might be a possible outcome of my speaking out.
In addition to the five 9/11 defendants, 26 other men are being held at Guantánamo, out of roughly 780 who have passed through its prison since 2002. The majority of the remaining prisoners have never been criminally charged and have been approved for release by a parole-like board, yet remain in confinement while the U.S. searches for countries to take them. They are known as"." Meanwhile, the 9/11 case has been stuck in"pre-trial hearings" for more than a decade.
Olson told NPR he hopes Biden will take steps to resolve all Guantánamo litigation, which is also extremely expensive: The war court and military prison have cost U.S. taxpayers"I don't think there's a huge downside for him communicating to the military officials involved in this decision-making process to let it go, get it over with, put it behind us," Olson said.
He added:"I think people want to move on ... and I would hope that he and his advisors would say, 'Let's get this one off the table.'""One of the possibilities, if they plead guilty and we take capital punishment off the table, is that they might be persuaded to tell their stories — how they were recruited, how this was all put together," he said.
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