Gonzales: Challenges Slowing Gitmo Cases

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gestures during an interview with The Associated Press, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 Washington. (AP Photo/J. David Ake) (J. David Ake - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay have been delayed because of numerous challenges by their own lawyers, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday in defending the Bush administration's treatment of terror suspects.

A leading human rights attorney called the attorney general's comments "a convoluted view of the world."

Gonzales, meeting with Associated Press reporters and editors, said the trials of terror detainees may begin as early as this summer, and that rules for military commissions in carrying them out will be sent to Capitol Hill this week.

But he acknowledged the delays, of up to five years in some cases, in deciding the legal fate of detainees being held at the military facility in Cuba.

"It's not for lack of trying," Gonzales said. "We are challenged every step of the way."

"A lot will depend on the courts and the legal challenges brought by detainees at Guantanamo," he said. "But we are trying as hard as we can to bring these individuals to justice."

The Bush administration has been widely criticized for its detention of about 395 men at Guantanamo, some without being officially charged, on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. The government has characterized the detainees as enemy combatants who should have fewer legal protections than civilians in U.S. courts.

Military officials say 60 to 80 detainees will be charged and brought to trial. Another 85 men have been cleared for release or transfer to other countries.

Last October, President Bush signed a law authorizing military trials and harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects. Defense lawyers have challenged the validity of the law and have raised the possibility that the military trials will be struck down by a federal appeals court or the Supreme Court.

Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, called Gonzales' remarks "a convoluted view of the world."

"We've been trying for five years to get the majority of the detainees in federal court," Ratner said. "They've resisted from the first day, when they took people to Guantanamo."

The Guantanamo issue was one of several topics during the hourlong AP interview that had Gonzales on the defensive over Bush administration policies criticized by Democrats and civil libertarians as overstepping legal boundaries.