Why are we holding detainees in GitMo for over a decade without charges? [View all]

[KansDem]

From "DemocracyNow!"

The New York Times has weighed in on another aspect of George W. Bush’s legacy: the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In an editorial, The Times editorial board said Guantánamo was "essentially a political prison." They wrote: "That prison should never have been opened. It was nothing more than Mr. Bush’s attempt to evade accountability by placing prisoners in another country." Meanwhile, Kenneth Wainstein, who was the top national security official at the Justice Department under Bush, told The New York Times an "exit strategy" is needed for the prison. Officials now admit 93 out of 166 prisoners are participating in a hunger strike at Guantánamo, while lawyers for the prisoners say nearly all prisoners are taking part. One attorney said the hunger strikers have despaired as Obama has failed to deliver on vows to close the prison. The lawyer said: "Many innocent men have chosen death over a life of unjust indefinite detention."

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/26/headlines#4264

OBL is dead; the Iraq invasion turned up no WMDs; Afghanistan is a cluster-folly; so why keep these people in prison?