The Inconvenience of Guantanamo

The recent report about 1 in 7 detainees rejoining the jihad after they were released from Guantanamo has fueled a vigorous debate between civil rights groups and many members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike. According to today’s lead story in The New York Times, titled, “1 in 7 Detainees Rejoined Jihad, Pentagon Finds,” the report, still to be officially released by the Pentagon, asserts this statistic based on 534 prisoners already transferred abroad.

To further inflame matters, the Senate voted, 90-6, to cut $80 million requested by President Obama to close the prison. Mr. Obama is scheduled to speak further on the matter today.

So it seems that this prison, that never should have been opened in the first place, because it goes against the very values that made this nation great, and denigrates us in the eyes of the rest of the world, is becoming a little inconvenient to get rid of. Once we transported all these captives from the Arab World to our hemisphere, we are confronted with them remaining in our hemisphere, albeit in a federal penitentiary.

And the NIMBY argument has kicked in with full force. No one wants a terrorist in their backyard, even if he is locked up in maximum security. Unfortunately, the only way we are going to get rid of the blight of Guantanamo, will involve doing just this. It is an ironic form of justice for the way we have treated these human being, yes, even terrorists are human being and need to be treated with a certain amount of dignity, including a fair trial and the right of habeas corpus. Because that’s what we believe, and that’s what separates us from them. Even if it has become a little inconvenient.