A US flag near "Camp Six" detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. President Barack Obama Thursday vowed not to back down on closing Guantanamo Bay despite raging controversy, branding the camp a "mess" and decrying Bush-era anti-terror tactics as based on fear. (AFP/POOl/File/Mandel Ngan)From Yahoo News/AP:
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Obama administration had no choice but to order the shutdown of the prison at Guantanamo because "the name itself is a condemnation" of U.S. anti-terrorism strategy. In an interview broadcast Friday on NBC's "Today" show, Gates called the facility on the island of Cuba "probably one of the finest prisons in the world today." But at the same time, he said it had become "a taint" on the reputation of America.
Gates has served both President George W. Bush and now Barack Obama at the Pentagon. In an interview taped Thursday aboard the retired World War II-era aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the defense secretary said that once the decision was made to close Guantanamo, "the question is, where do you put them?" He said Obama would do nothing to endanger the public and said there has never been an escape from a "super-max" prison in this country.
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My Comment: From where I am standing .... it seems that Secretary of Defense Gates wants to wash his hands from this responsibility. But considering how much of a political hot potato Guantanamo has been these past few years .... we should not be surprised.
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