Torture and terror: Q&A on Guantanamo

President Obama is weighing his plans on how to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and what to do with about 240 detainees still there. The announcement, expected in a major policy speech scheduled for Thursday, caps weeks of political maneuvering over the issue and such related topics as the debate over how to interrogate terror suspects. Here is a primer into the knotted partisan debate.

What is the Guantanamo Bay facility and why is it important?

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, at a U.S. military base in Cuba, has been used to house suspects that the United States believed were involved with terrorists. Since 2001, an estimated 775 prisoners have moved through the facility, informally known as Gitmo. Of that group, about 420 have been released without charges and at least 70 were transferred to other nations.

The United States is reviewing what to do with the about 240 remaining inmates. About 30 soon may be released, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said in April. Holder also is trying to persuade other countries to accept detainees.

Trials under military commissions were held at the camp, which became a worldwide symbol of opposition to the Bush administration policy that condoned harsh interrogation and what some called the torture of detainees. There were also complaints, from military and civilian defense lawyers, that the commissions violated judicial due process.

What was the Obama administration's position?

As a candidate, Obama opposed the tribunals and condemned the Bush administration's treatment of the detainees. On Jan. 22, 2009, Obama announced that he had signed an executive order to suspend the proceedings and that Guantanamo would be shut down within a year.

So that ended the dispute, right?

Shutting Gitmo means having to figure out what to do with the detainees. Republicans repeatedly have opposed shutting the facility, arguing that it is best place to house detainees awaiting judicial review. Both Republicans and Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, say they have concerns about relocating detainees within the United States, and foreign governments are reluctant to take them. In a rare rebuff to the popular Obama, Democrats in the Senate shot down his plans and requests for funds to close Guantanamo, pending more details.

What are the politics of the disputes?