Bush wants Guantanamo closed, detainees tried

Several foreign leaders, including the chief ally of the US, British PM Tony Blair, have expressed unhappiness about the camp.

Unites States President George W Bush said he wanted to see the camp at Guanatamo Bay in Cuba closed and the prisoners held there put on trial.

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"I very much would like to end Guantanamo; I very much would like to get people to a court," Bush said in an interview on the German television channel ARD on Sunday.

"And we're waiting for our Supreme Court to give us a decision as to whether the people need to have a fair trial in a civilian court or in a military court," he said according to a transcript of the interview released by the White House.

While acknowledging the camp was a sensitive issue for people, Bush said: "We're at war with an enemy and we've got to protect ourselves."

On Thursday the US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in Vienna the existence of the camp was absolutely essential, in spite of repeated calls to close it.

Several foreign leaders, including the chief ally of the US, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have expressed unhappiness about the camp, Blair describing it as an "anomaly".

There has been an international outcry over conditions at the camp and the indefinite detention of the prisoners but the US administration has ignored all appeals, including one from the United Nations, to try or free the prisoners.