ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A former U.S. attorney who was among nine fired by the Bush administration in 2006 has been working as a prosecutor of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Word of David Iglesias' position surfaced as the nascent Obama administration circulated a draft executive order that calls for closing the Guantánamo Bay detention center within a year and reviewing the cases of the nearly 245 inmates still held there. The order also would suspend pending war crimes cases for 120 days.

Iglesias, who said he is speaking for himself and not for the Office of Military Commissions, said his cases still could go forward in a federal court, a military court-martial or with the commission, just not at Guantánamo.

He declined to comment about any transition of the war crimes process or about the type of cases he is prosecuting.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, New Mexico's former U.S. attorney said he underwent a vetting procedure for his new position last summer and fall, and took the job in October.

He traveled to Guantánamo last week to observe an arraignment and has begun reviewing cases assigned to him.

''It's the most important work I've ever done in my 25 years as a lawyer,'' Iglesias said. ``Our focus is laser sharp. It's just on terrorist cases and nothing else.''

Iglesias' firing as U.S. attorney was called the most troubling of the bunch in a U.S. Justice Department report that exonerated him. The firings played a role in the resignation of then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

In September, about a month before Iglesias began his new job, the Justice Department report concluded he was fired after Republican politicians and activists, including former Sen. Pete Domenici, complained about his handling of voter fraud complaints and public corruption cases in New Mexico.

After the report was made public, then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed a prosecutor to pursue possible criminal charges in the case.

Before taking his new position, Iglesias had been publicizing his book about the firings, working as a paid public speaker and practicing business law part-time in Albuquerque. Iglesias partially inspired the Tom Cruise character in the 1992 movie A Few Good Men.

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