DO we support the idea people should live in a country governed by the rule of law? There can be no excuse for indefinite detention without trial.

That is what is happening in Guantanamo. When things go wrong good friends should say so. In the eyes of the world we are seen as accomplices to Guantanamo.

It is a shame that after his time in the White House, President Barack Obama has been unable to close Guantanamo down.

There can be no excuse for detaining men for even a year without trial never mind 13 years as some have been.

The allegations of torture are, of course, horrible and, if true, criminal.

The Americans have spent over a century intervening in world affairs, sometimes to the good as in the First and Second world wars.

They say they are promoting democracy and the rule of law everywhere in the world. Yet they have abandoned the very basic ideas of their constitutional principles in Guantanamo.

We can no longer allow this to continue. Perhaps it is time the US ambassador should be asked to leave the Court of St James and ours should be recalled from Washington DC? It is the very least we can do to register a protest of some kind.

Nigel F Boddy, Darlington