President-elect Barack Obama's promise to shut down Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay and then move terror suspects to U.S. mainland facilities will have two profound, immediate effects.
First, a facility that has become as notorious worldwide as World War II internment camps for Japanese-Americans will be excised as a dark symbol of indefensible excesses by the Bush presidency.
Second, President Obama will end another Bush-Cheney charade—that Gitmo's remoteness protected mainland Americans. No one believes that. Detainees were sent to Gitmo in hopes they'd be out of reach of U.S. court interference.
A few never-say-die congressional Republican defenders of Gitmo have now launched bogus arguments against moving the 250 detainees to mainland military facilities. They claim they'd pose threats to nearby civilian communities plus distract the military from other activities.
Nonsense. Military and federal prisons contain the worst criminal rabble imaginable—serial murderers, rapists, spies, arsonists, bombers, even would-be presidential assassins. There's no record that any have escaped and posed community risks. The military is fully capable of maintaining prisons while performing other duties.
In another decision that drives a stake into the heart of Bush-Cheney terrorism policies, President Obama will ban detainee torture, which was thoroughly documented and deplored this week by the senior Pentagon official overseeing prosecutions, retired federal Judge Susan Crawford, who said flatly, "We tortured."
Gitmo and torture should not be allowed to become enduring symbols of our nation of laws.
