U.S.-Brit Gitmo Strife Near End?

Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday he expected to resolve differences with the United States over the detention of nine Britons at Guantanamo Bay "within the next few weeks."

"It's a question of, as I said in the House of Commons yesterday, either you get a trial of these people which we can be satisfied meets the obligations that we've got, or alternatively they will come back here," Blair told a news conference.

The fate of the terrorism suspects held without charge or access to lawyers at the U.S. base in eastern Cuba has been a sticking point between close allies Britain and America for months.

Nine Britons are among the 660 people held at the Caribbean prison camp. The United States agreed in July to suspend legal action against them while officials discussed concerns about planned military tribunals.

Britain and other nations whose citizens are being held — some for as long as two years — have raised concerns about the military courts and about possible death penalties.

"I think we are going to bring this to closure one way or the other within the next few weeks," Blair said at a monthly news conference at his 10 Downing St. office.

The prime minister emphasized that those held at Guantanamo had to be handled carefully because they could pose a danger to Britain's national security

"The people who are out in Guantanamo Bay are people that got there via a particular process," he said. "I just ask people to be a little understanding of the fact that there are also issues to do with our national security."

International impatience has been growing over the slow pace of deciding what to do with the detainees.

During his trip to Australia on Wednesday, President Bush was greeted by some 5,000 demonstrators who chanted anti-war slogans. His address to Parliament was twice interrupted when opposition lawmakers stood to object, and there was a scuffle after the speech when the mother of an Australian prisoner at Guantanamo tried to present a letter of protest.

American and Afghan forces began capturing prisoners shortly after the war against al Qaeda started in Afghanistan in October 2001. They began transferring them to Guantanamo in January 2002.

Two Britons — Feroz Abbasi and Moazzam Begg — were among six suspects whom President Bush said in July were possible candidates for military tribunals. The trials were put on hold almost immediately when Britain asked for negotiations on the rules.

Last week, a former Muslim chaplain at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorism suspects was charged with disobeying orders for improperly handling classified information.

Army Capt. James Yee, who also has used the name Yousef Yee, was charged with two counts of failing to obey a lawful order, U.S. Southern Command announced. He is charged with taking classified information home and wrongly transporting classified information.

Yee is one of three former workers at the high-security military base to be arrested in a probe of alleged espionage there. The charges against Yee are lesser than those against the others.