Gates: Detainee abuses gave US 'black eye'

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that reports of detainee abuse in the early years of the Guantanamo Bay prison operation have given the United States "a black eye."

Gates was asked at a press conference about Thursday's Supreme Court ruling that gives suspected terrorists the right to go to federal court to seek their release from indefinite detention at Guantanamo.

The U.S. defense secretary spoke at the conclusion of two days of NATO meetings, unrelated to Guantanamo. He told reporters he would wait until he returned to Washington and received briefings on the court decision before commenting on what it means for the future of the detention operation in Cuba.

Until then, "I'm not going to make any judgment in terms of what we ought to do next."

"I have often said that I thought - as have both the president and the secretary of state - that we would like to close Guantanamo," he added. "I think that despite the fact that in many respects Guantanamo has become a state-of-the-art prison now, early reports of abuses and so on unquestionably were a black eye for the United States."

The detention center in southeastern Cuba opened in January 2002, mainly holding prisoners taken on the battlefields of Afghanistan in the months after U.S. forces invaded to topple the Taliban regime. About 270 men are held there now; most have not been charged with any crimes.

Gates was returning to Washington late Friday.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Friday the 5-4 high court ruling would not affect the Guantanamo trials against enemy combatants and President Bush said he might seek a new law to keep the alleged terrorists in a U.S. prison.

On another subject, Gates told reporters in Brussels that the U.S. government must remain patient with the new Pakistan government and work with it to take stronger action against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters operating along the Afghan border. He said Islamabad needs time to "inform itself" about circumstances in the tribal areas where Taliban and al-Qaida operatives have found safe haven.

Asked about the Pakistani government's efforts to strike peace agreements with some of the tribal elements, Gates said, "I think it's fair to say that we have some skepticism, based on past experience, whether some of these agreements will work out, but it's their country and we have to give them the chance to try and deal with it in the way that they think is best."