White House 'thwarted attempts by Defence Secretary

[spindrifter]

to close Guantanamo'

From Times Online
March 23, 2007

Sam Knight and agencies

The US Defence Secretary has tried repeatedly to close America's controversial prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but has been thwarted by the White House, according to reports today.

The New York Times reported that Robert Gates, who succeeded Donald Rumsfeld as Defence Secretary last December, has complained several times to the Bush Administration since January that the camp has attracted so much criticism abroad that any legal proceedings conducted there have lost their legitimacy.

But his requests for its closure, and the transfer of trials of terror suspects to mainland America, have been refused in turn by the US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney and President Bush himself, the newspaper said.

Mr Gates, a former head of the CIA, has tried to strike a more moderate, less combative tone since succeeding Mr Rumsfeld last year and among his attempted reforms, the Times reported today, has been an effort to act on Mr Bush's stated willingness to close the camp in Cuba.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1559041.ece

[sam sarrha]

1. someone needs a constant supply of Torture Videos.. especially the Boiling ones from Uzbekistan