CIA: Bin Laden's Off to Gitmo if We Get Him

White House: But we're still closing Gitmo
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 17, 2011 4:24 AM CST
CIA: Bin Laden's Off to Gitmo If We Get Him
This video frame grab from 2001 shows Osama bin Laden.   (Getty Images)

The federal government not only doesn't know where Osama bin Laden is, it also doesn't seem to know where it would put him if he's ever captured. CIA director Leon Panetta told senators yesterday that the terror kingpin would be held in Afghanistan and moved "probably to Guantanamo" if the agency ever gets its hands on him, AP reports. A White House spokesman, however, stresses that the administration still plans to close the detention center.

National Intelligence Director James Clapper, responding to the same hypothetical question, said bin Laden's capture would "probably be a matter of some inter-agency discussions" over where to hold him and where to try him. Panetta and Clapper could perhaps have used some coaching from Eric Holder. When asked similar questions about bin Laden's possible detention and trial, the attorney general has responded that he doesn't believe bin Laden will ever be captured alive. (More Osama bin Laden stories.)

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