It's a crime that 'Gitmo' even remains open

With all that ails this country -- much of it created, if not exacerbated, under the Bush administration -- it's easy to sit back and wait for the next administration to step in and make things right. In my case, that would mean hoping/assuming that Sen. Barack Obama wins -- Sen. John McCain is far too similar to President Bush, in all the worst ways, for my liking (see: 100 years in Iraq; "bomb bomb Iran," warrantless wiretapping, wanting to see Roe v. Wade reversed).

Although, among the things Obama and McCain seem to agree upon is closing the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. That the prison was ever run by the U.S. is itself a mark of shame, but the fact that it remains open, housing somewhere near 300 prisoners, even as the Bush administration has admitted that yes, it should probably be shut down, just piles atrocity upon atrocity. As it stands, there's no move to close the facility, even though there's been talk of it for some time now (Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales opposed the prison's closure.) Now, a new Human Rights Watch report is a stark, shocking reminder of how far we've gone down the dark road of human rights violations in the name of our "war on terror."

"Locked Up Alone" details the conditions endured by prisoners locked up in Guantanamo's various camps -- including those cleared for release -- at the facility. Spending 22 hours a day locked up in a tight cell, away from daylight, praying, pacing, sleeping and continuing to do the same for up to six years has taken its toll on these men -- a few of whom were boys when they first entered those cells. Most of these guys have yet to be found guilty of so much as jaywalking.

The rules at the camps vary, with the nature of each outlined in the report: No visitors, no talking to other prisoners -- a loud noise machine or generator blocks out voices -- and the lights are always on. In one of the "Supermax" camps, one can forget about windows. "Recreation" time can occur in the middle of the night. Suicide attempts are common among detainees, and their lawyers frequently hear things such as "It seems that I am buried in my grave" and "Being away from my family is like a death sentence."

Those who are charged could face a war crime tribunal, where, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Pentagon has asked "interrogators to destroy their notes to evade legal consequences for their actions." So much for using those documents as evidence. Of the 270 or so prisoners at Gitmo, HRW estimates that 185 are being held in "Supermax" cells, and 70 have been cleared for release or transfer but remain there because in some cases, such as the Chinese Uighur Muslims, there's nowhere to send them. Here's what one man wrote in a letter to his lawyers:

"We were very pleased at the beginning when the Pakistanis turned us over to American custody. We sincerely hoped that America would be sympathetic to us and help us. Unfortunately, the fact was different. Although in 2004 and 2005 we were told that we were innocent, however, we are being incarcerated in jail for the past 6 years until present. We fail to know why we are still in jail here." How about that. He expected something better of America. He also described the plight of another Uighur who went on a hunger strike to protest not getting medical treatment. The guards responded by shackling and force-feeding him.

But there's hope. In a triumphant moment in this country's legal system, the Supreme Court on Thursday decided that Guantanamo detainees ought to have access to U.S. civilian courts, meaning they have their habeas rights -- the right to view and question the evidence against them -- restored (FYI, McCain disagrees). So the tribunals are on hold for now. Under the end-run orchestrated in the Republican-controlled 2005 Congress by the Bush administration, the detainees were stripped of those rights.

How our government treats those prisoners is unjustifiable, even if every soul in Gitmo is guilty of being a terrorist/an enemy combatant/a war criminal. And that we'll likely have to wait eight months before someone decides to close Gitmo is itself a crime.