Bush: Close Guantanamo

By the way, I've been totally remiss in not mentioning that no less than President Bush himself has called for the eventual closure of the detention camp in Gauntanamo Bay:

"I'd like to end Guantanamo. I'd like it to be over with," Bush said at a news conference after talks with European Union leaders. "One of the things we will do is we'll send people back to their home countries." He gave no time frame.

There are three reasons why I'm not jumping up and down in celebration about this. For one, given that there is no time frame, and that the Bush administration has no idea what they're going to do with all of the detainees, Gitmo is unlikely to be shut down at anytime in the near future. Secondly, as some have said, Gitmo has actually come to represent the least of our questionable practices and outright abuses of human rights (even with the suicides), and thus far the Bush administration has yet to yield an inch on secret detention centers and extraordinary rendition. And last, it's been predicted here and elsewhere that Gitmo would eventually have to be shut down. Gitmo has housed far too many men who have later been sent home without charges, drawn too much negative attention and press, and we have so far failed to craft even a remotely fair system by which to charge the men that still remain detained there. Why keep it running as a lightening rod for criticism of the U.S. that's in full view of the world, when we can simply keep flying terrorists, terorrists suspects, and completely innocent men around Eastern Europe in secret and without serious scrutiny? Gitmo's time has come and gone.