President rejects idea of closing prison at Cuban base

WASHINGTON - President Bush rejected a suggestion by Germany's new leader that the U.S. close its prison at Guantanamo Bay, saying after a first meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday that the facility is "a necessary part of protecting the American people."

Guantanamo has become a symbol in Europe for what many people see as Bush administration excesses in hunting down and interrogating potential terrorists. At least one German is among about 500 foreign-born men held indefinitely at the prison camp on Cuba's eastern tip.

"So long as the war on terror goes on, and so long as there's a threat, we will inevitably need to hold people that would do ourselves harm," Bush said at a White House news conference with Merkel.

The United States says the detainees are suspected Taliban or al-Qaida operatives or soldiers, but lawyers and rights groups say many were victims of circumstance who are not violent.

The two leaders seemed determined to get off to a good start after chilly relations between Washington and Berlin under Merkel's predecessor, the staunch Iraq war opponent Gerhard Schroeder. Their discussions also included Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Bush was fulsome in his praise of Merkel as smart, spirited and "plenty capable."

Merkel smiled, but showed she is no pushover. Both she and Bush called their 45-minute, one-on-one session "candid," diplomatic code for a meeting with real debate and differences.

"We also openly addressed that there sometimes have been differences of opinion," Merkel told reporters. "I mentioned Guantanamo in this respect."

Merkel said last week that while she thinks the prison should not remain open indefinitely, she did not plan to demand its closure when she met with Bush.

"We addressed this issue openly," Merkel said. "And I think it's, after all, only one facet in our overall fight against terrorism."

That is a fight Merkel said Germany agrees is vital, although "there may sometimes be differences as to the acuteness of that danger ... and how we face up to this threat."

Neither Bush nor Merkel mentioned the outrage in Europe over reports that the CIA operated secret prisons there, where terrorism detainees may have been mistreated in violation of European or international human rights law.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a welter of questions on that topic when she visited Berlin and other European capitals in December, and public opinion in Europe remains strongly skeptical of Washington's motives and tactics in the terror fight.

The Guantanamo prison opened four years ago, after a U.S.-led force ousted the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and scattered an extensive al-Qaida terror network in the country.

Dozens of prisoners have gone on hunger strikes — a sign, according to U.N. officials and rights groups, that some have lost hope.

Bush challenged reporters to tour the base and see for themselves "how the folks that are being detained there are treated."

"These are people picked up off a battlefield who want to do harm," Bush said, adding that "a lot of folks have been released from Guantanamo."

Of the approximately 760 prisoners brought to Guantanamo since 2002, the military has released 180. It also has transferred 76 to the custody of other countries, including Australia, Britain, Kuwait, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Only nine have been charged with a crime, and their cases are to go before special military tribunals that many lawyers say lack basic legal protections for defendants.

"The United States says the detainees are suspected Taliban or al-Qaida operatives or soldiers, but lawyers and rights groups say many were victims of circumstance who are not violent."

I'll trust the President over "lawyers and rights groups", on this one Annie, dear, since lawyers lie for a living and "rights groups" are one trick ponies.

"I mentioned Guantanamo in this respect."

Stick it up your a$$ sideways, Ms. Merkel. Why did you let the terrorist who killed our Seal out of prison and send him to Lebanon instead of extraditing him to the US, like we asked?

"Merkel said last week that while she thinks the prison should not remain open indefinitely"

Well then we agree, since we do not want it to stay open indefinitely either. As soon as we get this war on terror wrapped up, we can shut it down.

"there may sometimes be differences as to the acuteness of that danger ... and how we face up to this threat."

I wonder if the fact that the terrorists flew two planes into the WTC, another into the Pentagon, and tried to fly another into the White House or Congress, killing thousands of Americans in the process, might have anything to do with our sense that the danger is more acute than you do, since all you did was harbor the Hamburg cell that hatched the plot. Has Germany faced up to any threat in years by doing anything other than talking and paying off?

"Neither Bush nor Merkel mentioned the outrage in Europe over reports that the CIA operated secret prisons there, where terrorism detainees may have been mistreated in violation of European or international human rights law."

The socialists in Europe are always outraged over something that America does. They can go pound sand. They knew darn well that we had secret prisons, but they act all hysterical when they find out that some of them might have been in Europe. Any prison in Europe was run in conjunction with a European country, so butt out. Detainees may have been mistreated in violation of European or international human rights law or they could have been treated to a wonderful learning experience. Since they were secret, no one knows, so there is no reason to act all outraged.

"public opinion in Europe remains strongly skeptical of Washington's motives and tactics in the terror fight."

Right. We let Al Qaeda murder thousands of us so that we could take over the world. Are motives are to keep the dirty SOBs from being able to murder any more of us. Are tactics are appropriate given the nature of our enemy and the stakes involved. We are not playing bean bags.

"Guantanamo has become a symbol in Europe for what many people see as Bush administration excesses"

And European moaning about Guantanamo has become a symbol for many in the USA for what gutless, whining, anti-American slugs the Europeans have become.

"Dozens of prisoners have gone on hunger strikes — a sign, according to U.N. officials and rights groups, that some have lost hope."

No, it is a sign that they are still fighting a political fight against us, and U.N. officials and rights groups are carrying water for them.

"Of the approximately 760 prisoners brought to Guantanamo since 2002, the military has released 180."

I'd say 180 is a lot. Little Annie fails to mention that some of the 180 who were released, the most blameless of the bunch, have gone back to the Pakistan and Afghanistan and murdered people. We obviously have already released too many people and need to tighten up our standards.

"Only nine have been charged with a crime, and their cases are to go before special military tribunals that many lawyers say lack basic legal protections for defendants."

And many other lawyers say the military tribunals are fine. Not all have been charged with a crime, because it is not a crime to be a soldier in a war, even when one does not obey the laws of war. When the war is over, the illegal combatants can be released, and not before.

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