Rice: U.S. has no desire to be the world's warder

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that the United States has no desire to be the world's jailer, but suggested that it is reluctant to release prisoners from Guantanamo Bay until it is certain they pose no threat. Her host, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, announced last week that Britain would take up the case of a British resident held at the Cuban base. Previously, Britain would only take up the cases of citizens, and won the release of all nine Britons.

Photo: Rice: U.S. has no desire to be the world's warder

"We want the terrorists that we capture to stand trial for their crimes," Rice said in a speech at Ewood Park in Blackburn . "But we also recognize that we are fighting a new kind of war, and that our citizens will judge us harshly if we release a captured terrorist before we are absolutely certain that he does not possess information that could prevent a future attack or, even worse, if we meet that terrorist again on the battlefield." Prime Minister Tony Blair has avoided criticizing the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo , merely calling it "an anomaly" that eventually must end, reports the AP.

N.U.