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President George W. Bush answers a reporter’s question Wednesday morning, June 14, 2006.
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14 June 2006
Bush Says Military Courts Best Solution for Guantanamo Detainees, June 14, 2006(Highlights Prime Minister al-Maliki's plans for Iraq in press conference)
By Anita Wadhwani
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- President Bush said he would like to close the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where enemy combatants from the War on Terror are being held, but the United States first needs a plan for conducting legal proceedings for the prisoners, some of whom he called “very dangerous.”
Speaking June 14 to reporters at the White House, Bush said, “I'd like to close Guantanamo. But I also recognize that -- that we're holding some people that are darn dangerous and that we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts.”
The president said he believes military courts will offer the best solution, and his administration is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the issue. Many of the detainees, he added, already have been repatriated to their home countries.
“Eventually these people will have trials, and they will have counsel, and they will be represented in the court of law,” he added.
The president said that the detention facility provides an “excuse” to some countries to argue that the United States is “not upholding the values” that it is trying to encourage in other countries.
“[M]y answer to them is, is that we are a nation of laws and rule of law. These people have been picked up off the battlefield and they're very dangerous. And so we have that balance between customary justice, the typical system, and one that will be done in the military courts. And that's what we're waiting for,” Bush said.
For additional information, see Detainee Issues.
IRAQ
The president also spoke about his recent surprise visit to Iraq where he met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. “I saw firsthand the strength of his character and his deep determination to succeed, to build a country that can sustain itself, govern itself and defend itself,” Bush said. (See related article.)
Bush said he was “impressed” by the members of the Maliki government, and praised the prime minister’s plan for moving the nation forward, including current security activities known as Operation Together Forward.
He said the operation is an effort to “restore security and rule of law to high-risk areas in the capital city,” and will be carried out by approximately 26,000 Iraqi soldiers, 23,000 Iraqi police, as well as 7,200 members of the coalition forces. “Iraqi troops will increase the number of checkpoints, enforce a curfew, and implement a strict weapons ban across the Iraqi capital,” Bush said.
The president plans to direct the Treasury Department to help the Iraqi government create a stable public finance system. Bush also said he will have Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman provide additional support to Iraq.
Bush added that Prime Minister al-Maliki’s intent to bring Iraq’s militias and other armed groups under government control is progressing. Members of these militias will be integrated into the security forces, he said.
The transcript of the president’s remarks is available on the White House Web site.
For additional information on U.S. policy, see Iraq Update.
