News Release from Berlin (Reuters):

"Of course Guantanamo is a delicate issue for people. I would like to close the camp and put the prisoners on trial," Bush said in comments to German television to be broadcast on Sunday night. The interview was recorded last week. "Our top court must still rule on whether they should go before a civil or military court," he said. "They will get their day in court. One can't say that of the people that they killed. They didn't give these people the opportunity for a fair trial."

Bush's comments were a reiteration of long-standing U.S. policy, Frederick Jones, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in Washington. "The United States has no intention of permanently detaining individuals, that is not our goal. We want to see all these individuals brought to justice," he said, whether in their home countries or in the United States.

(But the administration ought to get their act together, using just a single voice, and not using Guantanamo for domestic political reasons. Look at this conflicting statement, which is probably closer to the truth.)

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, however, has dismissed calls for the prison to be closed. "Every once and a while someone pops up and gets some press for saying 'Oh let's close Guantanamo Bay.' Well, if someone has a better idea, I'd like to hear it," Rumsfeld said in a February speech to the Council on Foreign Relations.