Guantanamo Is Criticized

Sen. Mel Martinez said the Bush administration should consider closing the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison for terrorism suspects -- the first high-profile Republican to make the suggestion.

“It’s become an icon for bad stories, and at some point you wonder the cost-benefit ratio,” Martinez said. “How much do you get out of having that facility there? Is it serving all the purposes you thought it would serve when initially you began it, or can this be done some other way a little better?”

Martinez, who served in President Bush’s first Cabinet and is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, made his comments Friday after Democratic Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. suggested earlier in the week that the prison in Cuba be shut down.

President Bush said Wednesday that his administration was “exploring all alternatives” for detaining the prisoners.

Human rights groups and former detainees say prisoners at Guantanamo have been mistreated. The Pentagon said last week that some U.S. personnel mishandled prisoners’ copies of the Koran, Islam’s holy book.