Cheney advises on prisoners

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday the military prison at Guantanamo Bay could not be responsibly closed until the US war on terror is over and he defended the practice of subjecting detainees to simulated drowning during questioning.

Cheney, in an interview with ABC News, said he was aware of the interrogation tactics used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, including the practice of waterboarding, which simulates drowning.

Asked whether he thought, in hindsight, any tactics went too far, Cheney said, "I don't." Questioned about whether he thought the reported use of waterboarding on Mohammed was appropriate, Cheney replied, "I do."

The vice president was asked when the United States could responsibly close the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was set up to hold detainees in President Bush's war on terror launched after Sept. 11.

"Well, I think that that would come with the end of the war on terror," Cheney said, adding no one knows when that might be.

"In previous wars, we've always exercised the right to capture the enemy and then hold them until the end of the conflict.

"The same basic principle ought to apply here in terms of our right to capture the enemy and hold them," Cheney said.