Closing Guantanamo - Is That a Good Idea?

During the presidential campaign accusations were flying about the use of torture and other unsavory tactics against the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison, at the U.S. Naval Station in Cuba. There were records of complaints of mistreatment there as well as some forms of torture used during "rendition" elsewhere.

President Obama, in keeping with his campaign promise, has announced that he will close the infamous prison within one year. He did not offer, nor is there one forthcoming, about where these prisoners, some of whom are terrorists, will be housed.

Already there has been a flurry of activity to look at each person's case, probably in the hope that some can be sent to their home countries without charges. There is little doubt that even if the population is culled, there will be some prisoners, some pretty bad ones, who would have to be housed in the United States. One wonders which state will offer to "keep the light on for ya" in regard to these gentlefolk. I suppose a bribe might work for some hard pressed state.

While I agree we need to treat all prisoners with humanity and compassion and torture is NOT acceptable, why do we have to close a facility that is built for this type of incarceration? This week, new Attorney General Eric Holder visited the prison and found it to be a "well run and professional facility". He also was a little silly when he went on to say that he didn't see any mistreatment of detainees while he was there. Duh.

But to the bigger point. We need to spiff up our detention policies and not hold those who do not need to be. We need to afford them minimal prisoner rights that do not jeopardize anyone's safety. But once we do that, what is wrong with leaving them at the U.S. at Guantanamo? It meets all the security requirements and with proper oversight will be a model prison.

The critical issue is not the location; it is the treatment of the detainees and whether they are to be given constitutional rights of all U.S. citizens. Give them the rights, hold hearings and trials to present the evidence, and either convict them or not. Top secret information can be given in closed hearings to protect its sensitivity there as well as in the middle of Kansas. All of this, if necessary, does not change by housing the prisoners at our base in Cuba. What does change is that no state and no American citizenry has to worry about their own safety that might be compromised by having a terror suspect living in their midst.

Is there a downside?