No plan to shut Guantanamo prison, says Cheney
"The important thing here to understand is that the people that are at Guantanamo are bad people," Mr Cheney said in an interview on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" program.
"I mean, these are terrorists for the most part. These are people that were captured in the battlefield of Afghanistan or rounded up as part of the al-Qaida network."
Human rights activists and some lawmakers mostly Democrats want the prison closed, highlighting allegations of torture and abuse of detainees. President George W Bush has said his administration is "exploring all alternatives" for detaining the 540 prisoners, some of whom have been held for more than three years without charge.
"We've already screened the detainees there and released a number, sent them back to their home countries," Mr Cheney said.
"But what's left is hard core."
Some Republican lawmakers say problems over the prison itself and allegations of mistreatment there should cause the administration to consider closing the facility.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel cited Guantanamo as one reason the US is "losing the image war around the world."
"We've got a lot of people running around the world who want to do great damage to this country and other nations," he told CNN's "Late Edition." "We do need some kind of a facility to hold these people. But this can't be indefinite. This can't be a situation where we hold them forever and ever and ever until they die of old age."
In a statement on Sunday, the Defence Department said it "does not wish to hold detainees longer than necessary, and effective processes are in place to regularly review the status of enemy combatants."
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans a hearing on the issue tomorrow.
Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's senior Democrat, said the United States has created a "legal black hole" at Guantanamo.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the detainees haven't been abused in Guantanamo.
"We treat these people very well," Republican Duncan Hunter said. "We supply every one of them with the Koran. We supply them with oil. We supply them with prayer beads. Five times a day on the prison system, we do the call to prayer with arrows pointing in the direction of Mecca and assist them in their prayer ritual."
Time magazine reported Sunday on an 84-page document detailing the Guantanamo interrogation of one detainee, Mohamed al-Qahtani, who was captured during the war in Afghanistan.
It was learned later that he had tried to enter the US in August 2001, but was turned away by an immigration agent at the Orlando, Florida, airport. Mohamed Atta, ringleader of the September 11 hijackers, was in the airport at the same time, officials have said.
Military intelligence officials at Guantanamo got permission to use intensive interrogation techniques on two prisoners, including al-Qahtani, who were deemed to be important al-Qaida figures, the commander of US Southern Command has said.
Time said interrogators used such techniques as dripping water on al-Qahtani's head, strip-searching him and making him stand nude, and depriving him of sleep. At one point, after receiving fluid intravenously because he was dehydrated, al-Qahtani was told to urinate in his pants by interrogators who refused his request to use the bathroom so they could continue with their questioning, according to the account.
The Defence Department said in response that the interrogation of al-Qahtani "was guided by a very detailed plan and conducted by trained professionals motivated by a desire to gain actionable intelligence, to include information that might prevent additional attacks on America".
It said al-Qahtani provided valuable information on the logistics of the September 11 attacks and how al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden evaded capture by US forces.
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