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Guantanamo. It symbolises one of the many fault lines in the so-called war on terror. Along with rendition, secret jails, the destruction of evidence and much more, Guantanamo insults the values the "war on terror" is meant to protect.
Demands for its closure have been wide and varied. Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state, has said it should be shut "not tomorrow but this afternoon". In Britain Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor described the camp as "a shocking affront to the principles of democracy ... intolerable and wrong."
Even President George W. Bush has said it should be closed. The imminent release of four British residents, (they lived in Britain after being granted refugee status or temporary immigration status), will hopefully bring this closer. Guantanamo is a travesty of justice and detainees should be given proper trials. The mindset of Guantanamo - secretive, beyond the jurisdiction of US courts, beyond any viable definition of legality - is a cancer that can eat into the moral fabric of other organisations. The Central Intelligence Agency no doubt believed it could destroy evidence of torture because places like Guantanamo existed, where dark deeds are covered up and accountability is non-existent.
The best weapon to be deployed in the "war on terror" is not smart bombs, satellite images, or fighter jets. It is public goodwill. Guantanamo impedes the air supply of this goodwill. The only way to defeat terror is by open and transparent trials, where if the suspects are guilty, their plans for carnage and murder can be exposed. It is difficult to gauge just how much immense damage Guantanamo has done. The detention centre on the island of Cuba must be closed immediately before it does any more damage. There is no excuse for any further delay.
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