Bush acknowledges Guantanamo damages US image

WASHINGTON, June 14 : President George W Bush today acknowledged that the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where three detainees committed suicide, has damaged the US image abroad and said it should be shut down.

But he said a plan for relocating the prisoners was needed first and added he was also awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court about the forum for handling cases of some detainees.

''I'd like to close Guantanamo, but I also recognize that we're holding some people there that are darn dangerous and that we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts,'' Bush told a news conference in the White House Rose Garden.

He acknowledged that Guantanamo is seen by some countries as an example of the United States not upholding the values it espouses on human rights.

''No question, Guantanamo sends, you know, a signal to some of our friends -- provides an excuse, for example, to say, 'The United States is not upholding the values that they're trying encourage other countries to adhere to,''' Bush said.

Two Saudis and a Yemeni hanged themselves with clothes and bedsheets at the prison for foreign terrorism suspects on Saturday.

The suicides were the first deaths of prisoners at Guantanamo, although there have been many previous suicide attempts and hunger strikes since the United States began sending suspected al Qaeda and Taliban captives there in 2002.

Nearly all the prisoners at Guantanamo are being held without charge and some have been detained for more than three years. The 460 foreigners in the prison were captured mainly in Afghanistan during the US-led war there to oust the Taliban and al Qaeda after the September 11 attacks.

The US Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on the legitimacy of special military tribunals set up to try some of the prisoners for war crimes. Ten detainees face hearings before the tribunals.

Bush said the United States was also in a difficult position in some of the cases in which it wants to send prisoners back to their home countries but such moves have been criticized.

''Of course, sometimes we get criticized for sending some people out of Guantanamo back to their home country because of the nature of the home countries a little bit of a Catch-22,'' Bush said.

He added that a lot of detainees have been sent back already. ''I don't think the American people know that, nor do the citizens of some of the countries that are concerned about Guantanamo,'' Bush added.

According to the US Department of Defense, 287 detainees have left Guantanamo. That includes 192 who have been released and 95 who were transferred to the custody of other governments.

REUTERS