Guantanamo deaths deepen harm to U.S. image abroad

Opinion

June 13, 2006

Over the weekend, three detainees at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, did what many had failed to do before them: They committed suicide. That might not seem like a big deal when set against the scores who die violently in Iraq and elsewhere every week.

The camp commander, Rear Adm. Harry Harris, said the suicides were "not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us" that proves the detainees "have no regard for life."

So, is it all right to say good riddance, pronounce the deaths yet more regrettable casualties of an ugly war, and move on?

Unfortunately, no.

Most of those still held at Guantanamo Bay are undoubtedly opposed to everything America represents, and conditions at Guantanamo have given them a weapon in the battle to persuade Muslims that we are a nation that preaches ideals for others but fails to live by them ourselves.

The Founding Fathers created the USA as a new and different nation, one based on rights and laws. Guantanamo Bay achieves the opposite. The inmates are being kept in a Kafkaesque legal limbo. When the prison opened in January 2002, the Bush administration officially declared them "enemy combatants" and said they were not protected under the Geneva Conventions.

Since then, the administration has been secretive about who the detainees are, what their alleged crimes are and what conditions they are being kept in. Reports from the United Nations and others allege treatment tantamount to torture.

There has been some minor relief. The United States has quietly released about 300 prisoners - it holds more than 400 now - and admitted that some should never have been held. Under pressure, it said it would abide by Geneva Conventions' guidelines and in April released the detainees' names.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that the Guantanamo prisoners were entitled to due process, the administration said it would revive World War II military tribunals in which standards are lower and much of the evidence is secret. Only 10 cases have been brought, though, and none tried. The high court is expected to rule soon on a case, involving Osama bin Laden's former driver, that will determine whether the tribunals are sufficient.

The United States cannot be naive about people it captures. In their initial months in custody, some might provide useful intelligence - though it's hard to believe any of those still at Guantanamo do now.

But every day that Guantanamo remains a symbol of un-American behavior, it inspires more al-Qaeda recruits and more terrorism. International calls for its closure have reached a deafening crescendo, including, recently, from close ally Britain.

Reports of hunger strikes and suicides add to the sense that the prison has become more of a liability than an asset in the war on terrorism. A poll last year by the Pew Research Center indicated as much, as it recorded widespread international resentment of the United States.

President Bush insists he "would like to end" Guantanamo but needs first to wait for the Supreme Court ruling. That won't do. What Guantanamo represents needs changing, and immediately. It's time to lay out the evidence against those who need to be charged and release those who don't.