One of Britain's senior judges has condemned the

 detention by the United States of hundreds of 

suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, 

calling it a monstrous failure of justice. 

Lord Justice Steyn said the Al-Qaeda and Taliban

 suspects were being deliberately held beyond 

the rule of law and the protection of any courts.

 Our diplomatic correspondent BM reports.

    It's still rare for British judges to speak

 on contentious political issues and almost 

unheard of for them to attack a foreign government. 

Lord Steyn sits in Britain's highest court, 

the House of Lords. According to reports

 of his speech, he said the detainees at Guantanamo

 Bay were being held in conditions of utter lawlessness.

 The rules of procedure for military tribunals didn't

 prohibit the use of force to make them confess.

 And President Bush's blanket order deprived them 

of any rights whatsoever. It was, he concluded,

 a monstrous failure of justice.

 Lord Steyn said that the purpose of holding

 the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay was to put them

 beyond the rule of law, beyond the protection

 of any courts, and at the mercy of the victors.

An American government official says the US is fighting an

 intelligence war with suspected terrorists at Guantanamo,

 and many of them respond with hatred and defiance.