Holder: "Guantanamo Will Be Closed'

By John Bresnahan

(The Politico)  Eric Holder said that President-elect Barack Obama intends to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but he would not commit for a timetable to doing so.

Holder also expressed concerns over "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on detainees, and he committed to resigning from office if he were ever asked to approve a presidential action that, in his view, violated the Constituton.

"Guantanamo will be closed," Holder said in response to a question from Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) "Steps are being taken as we speak."

Holder, though, warned, "this will not be an easy task."

Roughly 250 detainees remain incarcerated at Guantanamo, and Holder said that some of them will be sent to other countries, while others will be tried in U.S. courts.

Holder said the fate of of potentially dangerous detainees who cannot be tried or deported will slow closure of the facility.

Holder said interrogation techniques approved by the Justice Dept. under his aegis will "reflect who we are as Americans."

However, Holder passed up a chance to criticize the Bush administration's approval for enhanced techniques like sleep deprivation.