Today (US time) is the 20th anniversary of the opening of America's gulag at Guantanamo Bay. The US has kept people imprisoned without trial - sometimes without even charges - for twenty years now. Most of those kidnapped by the US have since died or been released, but 39 remain (18 of them cleared for release). Ironicly, one of the "reasons" for their continued detention is to protect "classified information", specifically information about how the US tortured them: to stop them from telling their stories. Human rights abuse is being used to "justify" further abuse.
I was wondering what to write about this, so looked back. Here's what I wrote ten years ago. The only thing that has changed since then has been the numbers.
As for what needs to happen: the prisoners should be released, and those responsible for their detention, from the Presidents and politicians who set it up and kept it open, the military officers who supervise it and run its kangaroo "courts", down to the lowliest guard, need to be put on trial for crimes against humanity. Anything less, and we're just inviting them to do it again.
