Obama stands by Guantanamo closure

Barack Obama, the US president, has defended his decision to close the Guantanamo Bay US prison camp, saying it probably "created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained"."We're cleaning up something that is quite simply a mess," Obama said in Washington on Thursday, as he attempted to broker a consensus among officials who have rejected his plans to close Guantanamo."As commander in chief, I see the intelignence, I bare the responsibility of keeping this country safe and I categorically reject the assertion that these [the camp and military tribunal system] are the most effective ways of keeping this country safe," Obama said.The prison and the military tribunals were authorised by George Bush, his predecessor as US president, after the September 11, 2001, attacks.Obama stressed that efforts to reverse Bush-era policies such as Guantanamo had begun before he took office as president."In 2006, the supreme court invalidated the entire system," Obama said in his speech, delivered at the National Archives in Washington.He noted that roughly 500 detainees had already been released by the Bush administration and criticised Guantanamo and its military tribunals as endangering US citizens, saying they "alienate us in the world and serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists"."They risk the lives of our troops ... and make it more likely our citizens will be miss-treated if captured in battle," he said.