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REP. PETER KING, (R-NY) HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: So I think this is hasty. It is premature, and it raises questions which have not yet been answered. And it shows to me a difference by the administration to the will of Congress, when they see the overwhelming majority of Congress, Democrats and Republicans want all of these proceedings put on hold until an overall procedure has been adopted.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This crime occurred in 1998. I think the notion of getting on with this case is far from hasty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, "SPECIAL REPORT" HOST: Well, two sides of the debate about bringing the first Gitmo detainee to the U.S. to stand trial. Ahmed Ghailani, an Al Qaeda terrorist suspect was arraigned on charges he participated in the bombing of the American embassies in Africa in 1998, appeared in federal court in New York. What about this case, and what about Gitmo overall? Let's bring in our panel, Fred Barnes, Executive Editor of "The Weekly Standard," Juan Williams, news analyst for National Public Radio, and syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer. Charles, is this the administration's effort to lay the groundwork for more trials of Gitmo detainees here?

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: It is. And it's not hasty, Gibbs is right. But it is folly, because what we're doing is we're returning to the 1990's when we treated all of the attacks in Tanzania, on the Cole, and in New York as isolated attacks, small gangs of miscreants that we tried and put the FBI on them.

And we thought we're done with it. And then we got 9/11, and we woke up and realized this is a war. And we had the model of the war for 7.5 years that kept us safe. Now what we are doing is returning to the model of law enforcement. And the problem is this - Obama wants to pretend it's not a war. He won't use the words "War on Terror." He didn't use the word "terrorism" at all in the huge speech he gave in Cairo, 6,000 words, and he will never speak of Jihadism as a movement or enemy. It is all about these criminals. The problem is once you take away the model of war, you can have a Ghailani or others who get tried in court in New York. But there is a large cohort of bad guys in Guantanamo, starting with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that you cannot try in the civilian court and you cannot release, that you are going to have to hold.

And holding without - detaining without trial is done in wartime for a prisoner of war. If we are not at war, how do you explain that?

BAIER: Juan?

JUAN WILLIAMS, NEWS ANALYST, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: I think contrary to what Charles just said, this is a pre-9/11 event. And all you're seeing is an attempt to put this man on trial, and it's been pending for far too long.

The families of the victims, remember, 200-plus Americans were killed in these attacks, want this man brought to trial, and have been pushing the president to do so. Lindsay Graham, Joe Lieberman, who have been absolutely diligent on this issue, point out again that President Obama wants to use military tribunals. He does not want to use the normal criminal justice system as Charles suggests. He wants military tribunals. And the reason that Graham and Lieberman are supportive of bringing this man over and trying him is because it is not part of the 9/11 sect, and it does not suggest that this is a precedent that would do away with the use of the military tribunals.

BAIER: Fred?

FRED BARNES, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": Well, look, by the way, well, the press secretary at the White House said, this goes back to 1998. The guy wasn't arrested until 2004 and didn't get to Guantanamo until 2006.

And why not wait a couple of months until the Obama administration has a plan, if they can ever come up with one, to deal with all the prisoners at Guantanamo. Why send this guy now?

I don't think you have to be conspiratorial, Juan, to realize what they are doing. They are laying the groundwork, legitimizing bringing prisoners from Guantanamo, Al Qaeda - this guy was in Al Qaeda - bringing him - it's all a part of the same war against the United States, bringing him to the United States to be tried here.

You can have all kinds of problems with the trial. You did early with the 1993 World Trade Center bombings where intelligence information came out that helped Al Qaeda. If you don't allow it in the court, the guy may get out.

I think it hurts either way. If he is convicted and gets some long sentence, and, oh, we can bring all kinds of these people from Gitmo. If he's not convicted, if he is acquitted or somehow the charges are dropped, then what do you do? Do you let him go? Do you just release him and let him walk out of the courthouse, this guy? I mean, I think it's bad.

And look, why are they doing this? It's all because President Obama made a big mistake and announced that Guantanamo had to be closed next January 22.

BAIER: Charles, we learned today that the administration is discussing with several small pacific nations, including Palau - I had never even heard of Palau - 500 miles outside the Philippines, to put the Chinese Muslims, the Uighurs there instead of in the U.S.

Is this what we have been talking about, another Gitmo?

KRAUTHAMMER: Well, look, St. Helena is under repair, so that's why he's not going to end up there.

It's bizarre. The idea is if they are guilty, they ought to stay in detention. If not, you let them go.

But sticking them on islands, as you say, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean - imagine if the government decides these guys ought to go free. Are they going to be kept in shackles on this island? Are they going to be in a - fenced-in? Are they going to wear a bracelet on their ankles?

It is hard to understand what kind of limbo these guys are going to be in. And it's only because, as Fred indicated, it is a promise on Gitmo, which makes no sense.

BAIER: And, quickly, Juan, from the left, Senator Russ Feingold is already speaking out saying indefinite detention for anybody is something that this administration should not be for.

WILLIAMS: That's the pressure from the left, and I think that's the real fight. And I think lots of pressure is coming, I might also add, not just from the left, but from Democrats, centrist Democrats who don't want those prisoners brought on to American soil and think that it would be damaging to Democratic chances going forward.

One last thought here, the big problem is, I think Fred identified it properly, President Obama says he is going to close Gitmo by January 2010, next year, and he doesn't have a plan. So he's wresting with it. And I think that's legitimate.

BARNES: All he has to do is say we don't have a plan, and I'm not going to let prisoners out, I'm not going to send them anywhere. Until we do, if that goes after January 22, OK.