McCain says he wants Guantanamo closed

Supporting many European Union officials stance, US Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has called for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison for alleged terrorist detainees.

“I believe we should close Guantanamo,” McCain, who spent six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said in a foreign policy address in Los Angeles, where he argued that the United States cannot go it alone in the world and must respect the views of valued allies.

“Our great power does not mean that we can do whatever we want, whenever we want,” said McCain, 71. McCain’s comments marked a sharp departure from the Bush administration’s policy of acting unilaterally when it believes US interests are at stake. “We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies,” the Arizona senator said, calling for the creation of a League of Democracies and a trans-atlantic common market.

“There is the powerful collective voice of the European Union, and there are the great nations of India and Japan, Australia and Brazil, South Korea and South Africa, Turkey and Israel, to name just a few of the leading democracies,” he said.

New Europe