Holder seeks to calm uproar over Guantanamo

In this photo, reviewed by the U.S. Military, a guard stands near the shadow of a detainee at Guantanamo's Camp 5 detention center, at the U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 21, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday sought to tamp down uproar in Congress over the possibility that Guantanamo Bay detainees could be set free in the United States, saying he would not endanger the safety of any country.

President Barack Obama has ordered the closure of the U.S. detention base in Cuba for terrorism suspects set up after the September 11 attacks and the Justice Department and other security agencies will recommend what to do with the 241 prisoners.

Earlier this year, Holder said it was possible that 17 Chinese Muslims, members of the Uighur ethnic group, held for years at Guantanamo Bay and two or three others could be freed in the United States.

He has sought European commitments to take some of the prisoners, and told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Thursday the United States was also talking to allies in the Middle East to take others.

But no final decisions have been made and the process of moving the prisoners would likely start "in the next few months," he said.

"Paramount in our concern is the safety of the American people," Holder said. "We are not going to put at risk the safety of the people of this country."

POLICIES ON DETAINEES

The Justice Department's budget request for this year included funding three task forces set up to determine what to do with the prisoners, develop policies for handling terrorism suspects and evaluate interrogation practices.

"It will not be the intention of this task force review, the intention of this administration or this attorney general to place anybody in any part of this world who is a risk to the community, to the country that is receiving the individuals," Holder said.

Obama's budget requests $50 million for the Defense Department and $30 million for the Justice Department to pay for closing Guantanamo Bay and Holder said the money would go to staff, facilities and equipment to review classified materials on the detainees.

Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat, questioned the amount for the Justice Department and said she feared it might be laying "the groundwork for the dumping of terrorists" into state and federal prisons.

"We have to make sure that streets and neighborhoods don't think that they're going to be the repository of Guantanamo prisoners," she said.

Holder said anyone considered a terrorist would not be released inside the United States.

"You have to understand that we're going to be making decisions with regard to these people. Some are going to be released, some are going to be tried, some will be detained on a fairly extended basis," he said.

A group of House Republicans on Thursday announced a bill, "Keep Terrorists Out of America Act," to prevent Guantanamo Bay prisoners from being moved to the United States.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)