WASHINGTON (AFP) — Guantanamo Bay naval base and its stain on the global image of the United States has become one of the recurrent themes of the 2008 White House race, amid a fierce debate on whether to shut it down.
For Democrats, the detention center for "war on terror" suspects opened six years ago in the isolated US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has indelibly tarnished the US reputation abroad.
Guantanamo has "become the greatest propaganda tool that exists for recruiting of terrorists around the world," said Democratic Senator Joseph Biden.
It "compromises our long-term military and strategic interests, and it impairs our standing overseas," added Democratic forerunner Hillary Clinton.
While for John Edwards, among the top three in the Democratic race, the operations at Guantanamo Bay are one of the "worst abuses and biggest mistakes of (Bush's) administration."
Some 305 inmates are still languishing in the Guantanamo Bay camp, which has seen no trials completed since it was set up by the administration of President George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Most are still held without charge, denied access to lawyers or visitors, and face an uncertain future.
On Wednesday the Supreme Court will for the third time examine the legality of the detention center, set up outside US territory in order to ensure that its occupants cannot claim rights set out in the US constitution.
"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 Guantanamo," said New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.
But the Democratic front begins to crumble when the question turns to what should be done with the remaining prisoners.
Biden has argued that the most dangerous should be transferred to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and the rest freed.
Clinton has proposed that all the prisoners should either be sent back home, transferred to an international tribunal or sent to military or civilian prisons.
Only Senator Barack Obama, who is just trailing Clinton, has favored setting up military trials for the Guantanamo detainees.
On the Republican side, the need to be openly tough on national security concerns in order to satisfy grassroots supporters, complicates the response.
"We ought to double Guantanamo," said former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney during the last party debate. "I want to make sure these folks are kept at Guantanamo.
"I don't want the people that are carrying out attacks on this country to be brought into our jail system and be given legal representation in this country."
Television actor Fred Thompson, who has made a living playing tough law-and-order roles, is also in favor of keeping the prison open.
Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani believes the allegations of prisoner mistreatment at Guantanamo have "been grossly exaggerated, and many of the reports that I see are that it's not terribly different from any other prisons."
Republican underdog Mike Huckabee, who has leapt past three rivals in the latest polls in Iowa and recently visited the base, agreed saying US prisoners would "love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo."
Representative Ron Paul and former prisoner of the Vietnam war, John McCain, are alone among the Republican candidates in calling for the prison to be closed.
"Whether we deserve it or not, the reality is Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib have harmed our reputation in the world, thereby harming our ability to win the psychological part of the war against radical Islamic extremism," said McCain.
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