Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Chancellor Merkel has said that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo should not be kept open indefinitely. Are you willing to close it down anytime soon?
And, Chancellor, what are your concerns about Guantanamo?
BUSH: Yes, she brought up the subject, and I can understand why she brought it up because there's some misperceptions about Guantanamo.
First of all, I urge any journalist to go down there and look at how the folks that are being detained there are treated. These are people picked up off a battlefield who want to do harm. A lot of folks have been released from Guantanamo.
Like the chancellor, I'd like to see a way forward there. The way forward, of course, is ultimately through a court system. I think the best way for the court system to proceed is through our military tribunals, which is now being adjudicated in our courts of law to determine whether or not this is an appropriate path for a country that bases itself on the rule of law, to adjudicate those held at Guantanamo.
The answer to your question is: Guantanamo is a necessary part of protecting the American people. And 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 in a system in which people will be treated humanely and which ultimately there is going to be an end, which is a legal system; waiting for our own courts to determine how that's best to proceed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060113/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_text_1 Detainees hold on to a fence at Camp 4 of the maximum security prison Camp Delta at Guantanamo Naval Base in this 2004 file photo. President George W. Bush rejected criticism from German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the US war on terror detention camp at Guantanamo Bay(AFP/POOL/File/Mark Wilson)
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