Law chief urges Guantanamo closure

The attorney general has called on the US to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre "at the earliest moment".

Speaking in Chicago at an event hosted by the International Bar Association and the American Bar Association, Lord Goldsmith said the camp was "unacceptable".

His comments come just days after constitutional affairs secretary Lord Falconer said the detention of terror suspects on the Cuba base was a "shocking affront to the principles of democracy".

And Lord Goldsmith told his American audience that the key principles of democracy and the rule of law had to be upheld when fighting the 'war on terrorism'.

"I am firmly of the view that 9/11 brought about a step change in the threat of terrorism and therefore our necessary response to it," he said.

"But equally I do not share the view of those who assert that 9/11 changed everything and therefore any changes are worth making if they might increase our security, whatever the impact on the fundamental values and liberties on which our societies are based.

"Because to my mind what some would minimise as mere civil liberties are in fact the fundamental values on which our societies are based: liberty, justice and equality before the law."

He added: "I am not embarrassed to repeat here my views on Guantanamo Bay which are well known; that it is unacceptable and that it is time that it should be closed; that it has become a symbol of injustice, a recruiting agent for terrorists.

"It is a symbol which the long American tradition of justice and liberty deserves to see removed at the earliest moment."