...He (Rumsfeld) acknowledged getting a letter from Secretary of State Colin Powell concerning the 660 prisoners held at a US navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
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Hundreds of people were taken prisoner by US-led forces in the war launched to overthrow the Taleban after the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, blamed on al-Qaeda.
The US started moving captives to its remote base in Cuba in January 2002. They have been treated as enemy combatants, not prisoners of war who would have more rights.
None have been charged with a crime and few have been released.
The human rights group Amnesty International has long urged the United States to either charge the Guantanamo prisoners with crimes and try them or let them go.
Three children under the age of 16 are among the detainees, whose status means they have no rights to legal representation. ...
