A prison that stains US moral authority

„The Pentagon has said that it does not have to grant enemy combatants the right to a lawyer or access to the courts to challenge their detention. That argument was struck down by the US Supreme Court. The Obama administration now says that, while it accepts that the Geneva Conventions apply to Taliban detainees, it does not believe they are entitled to Prisoner of War status and the protections that go with it.

There is no doubt that President Obama's intention to deal with Guantanamo Bay is honestly held. Before his inauguration he said its closure would send a message to the world that America was serious about its values. But the greatest obstacle to closing the seven prison camps is not the perceived threat posed by the 176 detainees who live a relatively peaceful existence in a communal environment on the edge of the waters of the Caribbean. The greatest obstacle is the destructive politics surrounding any Guantanamo deal. When the White House tried to implement a transfer policy by building a new prison near Chicago in Illinois, the Obama administration ran into fierce local and national opposition. First the people of Illinois raised objections, and then Congress postured to block any plan that involved the movement of prisoners to camps on American soil. The truth is that President Obama has run out of ideas and the White House has quietly given up the idea of closing Guantanamo.

Any international solution also looks doomed to fail. Mr Obama has discovered that on this issue there is little interest in saving America from its biggest human rights problem. The desperate search to find homes for the majority of detainees who have been cleared for release has run into the buffers. There is also scant prospect of even putting on trial the so-called high-value detainees held in isolation at the camp. Unless Barack Obama stands up to both Congress and US nay-sayers, Guantanamo Bay and its military commissions will remain an appalling stain on the reputation of his administration and those that follow.”