United States:Democrats in the US Congress are considering a plan to close the detention centre at Guantánamo Bay by the end of 2008, keeping in custody only a few dozen alleged terrorists who would be put on trial.
John Murtha, chairman of the military appropriations subcommittee in the House of Representatives, is considering including the proposal in a $100 billion supplemental spending bill for the war in Iraq next week.
Mr Murtha sent Virginia congressman Jim Moran to Guantánamo last month to look at options for closing the prison.
"He came back with a good schedule of closing it down; he said there are a number of prisoners we'd have to figure out what to do with. But we have a schedule that's realistic and maybe in the next year (we would) be able to close it down," Mr Murtha said.
New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, said yesterday that closing Guantánamo was a prerequisite for any improvement in the US's reputation around the world.
"Prisoner abuse, torture, secret prisons, renditions and evasion of the Geneva conventions must have no place in our policy. If we want Muslims to open to us, we should start by closing Guantánamo," he said.
The European Union and human rights groups such as Amnesty International have made repeated calls for the prison to be shut down and President George Bush has said he wants to close it. The administration is negotiating with the home governments of many of the almost 400 detainees about repatriating them but there are fears that some could face torture or death if they return to their country of origin.
Despite the international outrage that Guantánamo has evoked since it opened in January 2002, the US public has shown little enthusiasm for closing the prison. A Los Angeles Times/ Bloomberg poll last summer found that 68 per cent of Americans wanted to keep Guantánamo open, compared to 18 per cent who think it should be closed.
Although Mr Murtha and Mr Richardson see the camp's closure as an important symbolic step towards improving foreigners' perceptions of the US, some senate Democrats expressed doubts.
"In this situation, where do you put the bad guys, if not there? I know it has become symbolic and 'radioactive', but if not there, where? If you don't put them in this sort of environment where you have control over them, you have to face them back on the battlefield. I don't think you could just close it down," Nebraska's Ben Nelson said.
Some Democratic opponents of the Iraq war suspect that Mr Murtha's plan to attach the Guantánamo closure proposal to a military spending bill is part of a stratagem to keep funding the war.
"You could close Guantánamo; that's a good move - but until the United States ends the occupation, we will still have this war," said Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination in 2008.
Mr Richardson said closing Guantánamo should be part of a "new realism" that would include a renewed commitment to multilateral co-operation. "We need to stop treating diplomatic engagement with others like a reward for good behaviour," he said.