Date published: 2006/05/10
The BBC says:
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has called for the closure of the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay.
He is reported to have serious doubts about whether the indefinite detention of "enemy combatants" is legal or fair.
In a speech in London, he said the camp had become a symbol of injustice and its existence was "unacceptable".
...
In the strongest worded condemnation yet from a British government minister, Lord Goldsmith said: "The existence of Guantanamo remains unacceptable."It is time, in my view, that it should close. Not only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close Guantanamo as a matter of principle, I believe it would also help to remove what has become a symbol to many - right or wrong - of injustice.
"The historic tradition of the United States as a beacon of freedom, liberty and of justice deserves the removal of this symbol."
...
Lord Goldsmith told the Royal United Services Institute there was a case for limiting some rights for collective security.But he said the right to a fair trial should never be compromised.
Perhaps Goldsmith should tell his boss Blair that "the right to a fair trial should never be compromised", since Blair wants the right to lock people up without trial for 90 days (or longer) just on his say-so, without any court intervention. Of course Guantanamo Bay, along with almost all other policies of the Bush administration, has been a complete disaster for the US, and has almost certainly made American citizens less safe in the world.
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