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U.S. close to closing Guantanamo

Simon Tisdall

WASHINGTON:

Washington: Growing embarrassment at senior levels within the Bush administration over the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba is driving an intensifying internal debate on how and when the camp can be closed.

Key advisers to U.S. President George W. Bush, such as Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledge that the continuing controversy over the camp is damaging the country’s interests and standing.

Administration officials suggested this week that a consensus was developing in favour of closing the camp soon. “The push [for closure] has reached a high point,” one official said.

Ms. Rice said this month: “We don’t have any desire to be the world’s jailer ... I don’t think anyone wants to see Guantanamo open one day longer than is necessary.”

Mr. Gates admitted in March that the credibility of the legal system at the camp had been tainted by reports of torture. He has suggested that detenus should be tried on U.S. soil. Pressure to act is also coming from Congress. Steny Hoyer, Democratic majority leader in the House of Representatives, described Guantanamo this week as “an international disgrace that every day continues to sully this great nation’s reputation.”

The Guantanamo camp has been used to hold hundreds of foreign terrorist suspects without charge or trial since the September 11, 2001 attacks and has become a worldwide symbol of perceived U.S. disregard for human rights. About 375 foreign nationals are detained there. —

Guardian Newspapers Limited London 2007

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