Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba — Many of the Afghan war detainees now held at Guantanamo Bay will likely be returned to their homelands, a U.S. senator said Friday.
The 158 detainees come from 25 countries, Marine Brig. Gen. Mike Lehnert told reporters without identifying the nations. Previously, officials said detainees at this U.S. military outpost were from 10 countries.
Of the al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, "many of them will likely be sent home," said Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who was part of a delegation of eight representatives and three senators that visited the detention center on Cuba on Friday.
Inhofe said some detainees would be sent home after investigators complete interrogations that began Wednesday. The detainees have not been allowed lawyers.
Officials would not say how long the interrogations might last. It also was unclear whether the United States would demand that detainees be returned on condition they be put on trial at home. U.S. lawmakers have said they consider the detained fighters a danger to society who would kill again if set free.
The visiting legislators said they hoped the questioning was yielding useful intelligence for the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
But Republican Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana said the interrogators, from several U.S. civilian and military agencies, first were trying to work out which captives should be sent home and which should be held.
He said the information being gathered would not be used for prosecutions. Other lawmakers declined to say whether the United States was getting answers to key questions about terrorist training or the whereabouts of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
In a dramatic scene, the U.S. delegation was driven on white buses into Camp X-ray, the detention camp fortified by three layers of fences topped by razor wire and patrolled by attack dogs.
When they got out, at the open-air cells of chain-link fence walls topped by a corrugated iron roof, officials pointed out the Australian inmate as one the military has said threatened to kill an American, according to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican.
She said there was no communication with the Australian, and that he appeared "docile" like other detainees. She said they were reading the Quran, Islam's holy book, and had towels over their heads apparently in place of the turbans to which they are accustomed.
"Some pretended that we weren't there, but I think that we were all giving them the evil eye," Ros-Lehtinen said.
The Australian, 26-year-old David Hicks, is the only detainee identified by name, by his father in a request for the Australian government to demand his return home.
Australia said Friday it continues to assess the legal position of Hicks, who was caught fighting with the defeated Taliban army.
"POWs are normally held until the war is over," Prime Minister John Howard said Friday. "I'm not saying he won't come back to Australia. We continue to assess his legal position."
Several governments are demanding the United States give the captives prisoner of war status under the Geneva Conventions, which rules out trial by military tribunal.
Britain said Thursday it would prefer to have three of its citizens among the detainees returned to go before a British court.
Some of Washington's staunchest allies continue to protest the possibility that the prisoners, all fighters with the Taliban or the al-Qaida terrorist network that it sheltered, could be tried by secret U.S. military tribunals empowered with the death penalty.
Most legislators said they were not interested in monitoring the treatment of the prisoners, though it has caused an international outcry.
Sen. Bill Nelson, however, said he found the conditions humane. "I have been very impressed by what I've seen," said the Democrat from Florida.
Three planes brought the eight representatives and three senators, along with their aides, to the base in eastern Cuba.
Rep. Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, expressed concerns about dangers facing troops at Guantanamo. "We know the military is stressed here a great deal. I think it's important to make sure they have what they need," Sessions said.
Military officials have postponed bringing a remaining 270 detainees from Afghanistan until the interrogations are finished and more temporary cells are constructed.
Inhofe said that on his return he would recommend that Congress release money to start building a more permanent prison at Guantanamo, which could house up to 2,500 inmates.
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