What are the alternatives to Guantanamo?

But it may be even more complicated than that.

Human rights advocates say some of the Guantanamo detainees were not picked up in an international armed conflict — so they are not legally prisoners of war or enemy combatants. What they need is the chance to convince a federal judge of this, advocates say.

While in Cuba, the detainees' right to seek habeas corpus is in dispute. Last February, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the law which bars Guantanamo detainees from seeking habeas corpus.

But Goldstein said that ruling is "in tension" with the Supreme Court's 2004 Rasul decision. But if detainees arrive in Kansas, their lawyers could go to federal court for a habeas corpus hearing to seek their freedom. The Robert J. Dole United States Courthouse in Kansas City could become the epicenter of the legal struggle over global terrorism.

NBC News video White House denies Gitmo to close June 22: The White House denies that it is thinking of closing the prison at Guantanamo, Cuba. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports. Today show

Harkin’s communications director, Jennifer Mullin, said he and his staff “carefully researched the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas — a state-of-the-art, maximum security military facility —  and are confident that it has the capacity and security needed to house prisoners currently held on Guantanamo Bay.”

Harkin did not speak with Brownback and Boyda directly about his proposal before introducing his bill.

Harkin’s bill contains a provision that will provide Fort Leavenworth with funds to offset extra security and community costs.

The Iowa Democrat is willing to look at other proposals for relocation of the Guantanamo prisoners. But he "believes it is essential these prisoners be held in the continental United States where proper oversight can be conducted,” Mullin said.

Convincing the public
Democratic consultant Julian Mulvey said, “It’s not the location of the prison that’s the problem, it’s the fact that the Bush Administration can’t locate one of America’s most fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution; the right of habeas corpus.”

But he said the president’s job of “selling” a new location or locations would be difficult, considering the administration’s damaged credibility.

“At this point, the bond of public trust on all issues relating to the war has been so totally demolished that if the Administration makes a case for anything — in their typical fashion — the majority of Americans are going to run the other way. They’ve wrecked their credibility on so many fronts,” said Mulvey.

It is essentially the same argument senators on both sides of the immigration debate cited last week in explaining why many Americans opposed the bill Bush supported: people lacked confidence in his administration’s ability to actually administer existing law, much less a new one.

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