President Bush has hinted at an eventual closing of the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay last night amid mounting calls for it to be shut down.
"We're exploring all alternatives as to how best to do the main objective, which is to protect America. What we don't want to do is let somebody out that comes back and harms us," Mr Bush said in an interview with Fox News Channel when asked whether it should be shut down.
Calls for closure of the prison camp for foreign terrorism suspects at Guatanamo Bay, Cuba have risen since Amnesty International last month called it a "gulag" and compared it to the brutal Soviet system of forced labour camps in which millions died.
Republican Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, added her voice to the criticism by supporting those calling for the closure of the camp, including former president Jimmy Carter and Senator Joseph Biden, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"I think that we need a fresh start . . . a clean slate for America in the Muslim world," Ms Pelosi said.
The prison camp has been dogged by allegations of abuse since it was created in the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001, attacks and the subsequent US-led military action in Afghanistan.