Bush says military courts best for Guantanamo detainees
Regional-USA, Politics, 6/14/2006

US President George W. Bush said he would like to close the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where enemy combatants from the War on Terror are being held, but the United States first needs a plan for conducting legal proceedings for the prisoners, some of whom he called "very dangerous."

Speaking June 14 to reporters at the White House, Bush said, "I'd like to close Guantanamo. But I also recognize that -- that we're holding some people that are darn dangerous and that we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts."

The president said he believes military courts will offer the best solution, and his administration is waiting for the US Supreme Court to decide the issue. Many of the detainees, he added, already have been repatriated to their home countries.

"Eventually these people will have trials, and they will have counsel, and they will be represented in the court of law," he added.

The president said that the detention facility provides an "excuse" to some countries to argue that the United States is "not upholding the values" that it is trying to encourage in other countries.

"[M]y answer to them is, is that we are a nation of laws and rule of law. These people have been picked up off the battlefield and they're very dangerous. And so we have that balance between customary justice, the typical system, and one that will be done in the military courts. And that's what we're waiting for," Bush said.

Previous Stories:
  UK partner in crime with US on rendition flights   (6/14/2006)
  Public diplomacy must stress common values, State's Hughes Says   (6/12/2006)
  Amnesty calls for investigation Guantanamo deaths   (6/12/2006)
  Three Guantanamo Bay detainees die of suicide   (6/10/2006)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search