US Vice President Dick Cheney has said that the United States had nothing to apologise for in its treatment of Afghan detainees at the US Navy base in Cuba.
Describing the detainees at Guantanamo Bay as "very bad people by anyone's definition," Mr Cheney said that despite harsh criticism from some US allies, the Afghan captives were being treated more humanely than they deserved to be treated.
"Nobody should feel defensive or unhappy about the quality of treatment," he said. He added that the detainees were being fed, sheltered and looked after under humane Geneva Convention standards even though they are not officially prisoners of war.
In a rare public appearance since September 11th, Mr Cheney spoke at a fund-raiser for Republican Mr Bob Portman, in Ohio. He was repaying a presidential campaign debt to the congressman who prepared him for the only vice presidential debate in the 2000 election.