WARSAW, Sept 10: The United States said on Tuesday it had no choice but to keep hundreds of suspected Al Qaeda prisoners at a US naval base in Cuba indefinitely, as the people concerned were too dangerous to let go.

“We are not going to let them go back as long as the conflict continues, so that they can sign up again to Al Qaeda,” William Taft, the top legal adviser to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, told a European human right conference by telephone link in a defence of Washington’s rights record since it launched its “war on terrorism” a year ago.

He said they would continue to be detained “as long as their capabilities and intentions continue”.

“Certainly at the moment they are continuing. They are intent on carrying on the conflict against us,” he said.

More than 500 people suspected of being members of the network behind the Sept 11 attacks have been held at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but have not been charged, leading to concerns from rights organizations that the US is breaching international rules on detentions.—AFP