The United States can't hold prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba forever, MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough said Friday.
"We cannot hold these people indefinitely. We either have evidence to convict them, or we let them go. And, 11 years later it's time to do one of the two," Scarborough said on the show.
Retired Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, who helped open the facility, called for its closure in
a column for the Detroit Free Press.
He wrote, "Our decision to keep Guantanamo open has helped our enemies, because it validates every negative perception of the United States."
The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay opened in 2002 to interrogate suspected terrorists following the Sept. 11 attacks. Since then, the detention facility has housed 779 prisoners, with
162 currently still imprisoned there.
The problem, Scarborough said, is what to do with prisoners after they are released. After previous attempts to transport the prisoners to allied countries were undercut by media reports, Scarborough maintained the prison is still open because "our allies know they can't trust us."
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