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Beyond Closing GuantanamoBay
Letter-to-the-Editor
Washington Post
June 23, 2006
David Ignatius's June 14 op-ed column, "A Prison We Need to Escape," finally humanized the prisoners held at GuantanamoBay for more than four years without their legal rights, and for that I am grateful. My son, Fawzi, is still at Guantanamo after 4 1/2 years. The anguish feels endless for all family and friends who have been kept in the dark while their sons, brothers and husbands suffer in secret.
But when Mr. Ignatius calls for closing the camp, he misses the real point.
What good would it do to close Guantanamo and scatter prisoners to other secret prisons around the world rather than sending them to their home countries? If the prisoners were being held at the Mayflower Hotel, their incarceration would still be unconstitutional. What's needed is for the Bush administration to do what my group, the legal rights community and international leaders have been calling for since the first prisoners were sent to the camp: Either charge the prisoners with crimes and try them under law, or release them.
Giving the prisoners their day in court will allow the guilty to be separated from the innocent and go a long way toward restoring America's global image as a nation ruled by laws. How many more suicides and years of injustice will it take before the Bush administration ends the violations of human rights and U.S. law at Guantanamo?
KHALID AL-ODAH
Kuwait City
The writer is head of the Kuwaiti Family Committee, a group of relatives of Guantanamo detainees.
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