Saturday's deaths are likely to rekindle a debate over the future of the camp, which the Bush administration routinely defends as critical to the war on terrorism. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, two of Bush's closest European allies, have called for the Guantánamo camp to be closed, as did the United Nations Committee Against Torture.

Critics have accused the camp of using interrogation techniques that could rise to the level of "torture" and leaving captives behind bars with little access to lawyers or the outside world. Harris said the three detainees had not recently undergone any interrogations.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who has also called on the United States to close the prison, brought up the issue Friday during a meeting with Bush at Camp David, Md.

Bush said he wants to see the prison vacant - just not yet. "We would like to end the Guantánamo - we'd like it to be empty. And we're now in the process of working with countries to repatriate people, " Bush said.

But he added: "There are some that, if put out on the streets, would create grave harm to American citizens and other citizens of the world. And, therefore, I believe they ought to be tried in courts here in the United States."

Bush said his administration is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on whether he overstepped his authority in ordering the detainees to be tried by U.S. military tribunals. Harris said the camp is undergoing a review to ensure there is not a repeat. Among the changes: Detainees' bedsheets will be removed in the morning when they wake up.

"It obviously removes from the detainees something they are used to living with, but I feel it's required to prevent a reoccurrence, " he said.

Just last month, the latest commander of operations offered the greatest detail of how the military would respond to a detainee death.

Both a pathologist and a Muslim chaplain would be brought in, Harris told The Miami Herald. An autopsy would be done to determine how the captive died, and the chaplain would prepare the dead for Islamic burial.

A delay was anticipated in burial to give the pathologist time. It was not determined in advance whether a dead detainee would be buried at the Navy base or be sent home. Army Gen. John Craddock, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, said during Saturday's briefing at Southcom's Miami headquarters it "would be possible" that the men would be buried in Guantánamo.

It was unclear which military cleric would be handling the dead, although there was a report a Navy chaplain was en route from Camp Pendleton, Calif. The chaplain is a Bangladeshi-American imam, or prayer leader, who had been the prisoners' first Muslim chaplain during the Camp X-Ray days.

During a media visit last month, the Navy captain in charge of the prison camp hospital said he understood that in the event of a detainee's death, the onus would be on the military to "hopefully justify to the world that it was natural causes."

Clark reported from Washington, Rosenberg reported from Guantanamo Bay and Great Exuma, Bahamas, and Miami Herald staff writer Oscar Corral contributed to this report from Miami.

LEGAL MOVES A few highlights of legal developments surrounding the U.S.-held prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. For more , go to MiamiHerald.com: Nov. 13. 2001: President Bush signs an executive order authorizing the secretary of defense to hold non-U.S. citizens in indefinite detention. Dec. 27, 2001: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirms the Pentagon will move terrorism suspects from Afghanistan to the U.S. Navy Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, "the least worst place" to hold them. Jan. 11, 2002: The U.S. military sends 20 prisoners from Afghanistan to Guantánamo. Feb. 7, 2002: Bush directive defines Taliban and al Qaeda captives as "unlawful combatants, " not prisoners of war. June 28, 2004: The Supreme Court rules 6-3 that Guantánamo detainees can challenge their captivity in federal courts. July 30, 2004: Pentagon establishes military panels of officers to review each detainee's "enemy combatant" status on a case-by-case basis. July 15, 2005: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upholds Bush's war powers to create a military commission to try Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 35, of Yemen. March 28, 2006: Supreme Court hears oral arguments as it grapples with whether the Pentagon's plan to try Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver, violates international law and the U.S. Constitution. SOURCES: Department of Defense; The Miami Herald; Human Rights First; U.S. federal court filings, Center for Constitutional Rights, National Institute of Military Justice. MiamiHeraled.com: Click on Today's Extras to read a recent Q&A with the commander of the Navy Base

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