British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he wants the US military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to be closed. Mr Blair also repeated his opinion that the camp was an "anomaly", but told law makers it was important to remember the context in which the camp was set up.
Mr Blair went further than before during his weekly question and answer session in Parliament, saying: "I hope the judicial process can be put in place which means that Guantanamo Bay can close -- as I think it should for the reasons I have given." He added that the camp came out of "the worst terrorist act this world has ever known", referring to the attacks on September 11, 2001, in the United States where nearly 3,000 people were killed. "Those people who were picked up in Afghanistan were people who were engaged in helping those reactionary forces there to defeat American and British troops," Mr Blair said.
"So, I agree it is an anomaly and that's why it has to end," he said. "But I'm afraid I will always, when answering questions on this, draw attention to the circumstances in which it was introduced." Meanwhile a US military officer said that US plans to transfer about a third of the detainees at Guantanamo to their home countries after a review carried out over the past year. The first detainees arrived at the US naval base on January 11, 2002.
For four years, some 500 detainees have been held at Guantanamo but only 10 have been formally charged as alleged terrorists. Most were captured soon after the US-led war in Afghanistan against the Taliban regime.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1581836.htm
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