<< Back

Close Guantánamo?

OUR OPINION: PREMATURE TO SHUT CAMP BEFORE DECIDING DETAINEES' FATE

Editorial
Miami Herald
May 24, 2006

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rejected out of hand a U.N. committee's suggestion that the United States close down the GuantánamoBay detention camp -- and she was right to do so. It is true that the United States should close down the camp, eventually, but it should do so only after it has determined the fate of the detainees.

Several U.S. allies have said the camp should be closed, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- a staunch supporter of the war on terror -- and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. President Bush, too, has said he would like to see the camp shut down. In an interview last week, he said he ``very much would like to end Guantánamo.''

The U.N. Committee Against Torture criticized the United States last week for interrogation techniques used at the camp and for ''extraordinary renditions,'' the practice of seizing suspected terrorists in one country and taking them to another country for questioning or jailing.

Without a doubt the camp is an embarrassment to the United States, but the administration has only itself to blame. The government established the camp at GuantánamoBay in the belief that it was a no-man's land that would be outside the reach of international law, the Geneva Conventions, U.S. law and even the U.S. Constitution. But U.S. courts have slowly established their right to have at least some say in the camp operations despite the government's claims that the prisoners are ''enemy combatants'' who aren't entitled to the protection of U.S. or international laws.

The U.N. committee's condemnation, although out of line, was a reminder that the government's concept of indefinite detention without legal recourse is untenable. The issue is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will decide whether the government can suspend the law to fight terrorists.

<< Back