President George W. Bush admitted in June 2006 that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay gave critics grounds to accuse the United States of failing to live up to its own democratic principles. Speaking at a Rose Garden press conference shortly after an unannounced trip to Baghdad, Bush said he wanted the prison closed but insisted that releasing certain detainees was not an option given the threat they posed.
Bush said the detainees, many of them captured in Afghanistan on suspicion of ties to the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, should ultimately face military tribunals. His administration was at the time awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on whether holding a detainee at the facility violated U.S. law and the Constitution.
Three detainees had died by suicide in the days before Bush's remarks, reigniting international criticism of the camp. European governments, the United Nations, and human rights organizations had been pressing Washington to close the facility, arguing that holding people indefinitely as enemy combatants, without charges or legal representation, was both cruel and unlawful. Bush maintained, "We are a nation of laws" and pledged that detainees would eventually receive counsel and court proceedings.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in June 2006, in its own words.