"I think a lot of people see that as overheated rhetoric and let's say for the moment I agree," Rubenstein told WWRL Radio's Steve Malzberg and Karen Hunter on Thursday.

Moments later, Rubenstein indicated again that he thought the gulag comparison was inappropriate.

"In our discussion this morning I prefer not to use the word gulag. ... The report itself does not use the word gulag."

Rubenstein was referring to Amnesty's annual report on human rights abuses, which was announced last week at a London press conference by the group's secretary general, Irene Khan.

It was there that Khan described Guantanamo as "the gulag of our time."

Asked if Khan should apologize for the comment, Rubenstein said, "Frankly, I don't know," explaining that he was unfamiliar with Khan's more recent statements on the matter.

Mr. Rubenstein's decision to back away from the gulag comparison stands in marked contrast to comments from Kate Gilmore, Amnesty's deputy secretary general, who defended Khan's remarks on Saturday.

"The issue of the gulag is about policies and practices," she told the New York Times, saying procedures at Guantanamo are "a breach of the Geneva Convention."

Gilmore boasted that the gulag flap had helped publicize Amnesty's findings, explaining, "We're getting more airing of our message than we would have otherwise."

On Thursday President Bush called Amnesty's "gulag" characterization "absurd."

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