Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo): Of Hundreds of Prisoners Kept There For Years, Only 10 Have Ever Been Charged

This powerful piece by Helena Cobban in the Christian Science Monitor reminds us that Guantanamo Bay represents the worst possible picture of what America is supposed to be and how unjust Bush's so-called "War on Terror" is as well as that we really MUST shut down this facility - not build a court complex costing hundreds of millions - and make sure nothing like Gitmo ever stands on our watch again.

Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of the day the US military flew the first of some 700 battlefield detainees from Afghanistan to Guantánamo. Some of those same men are among the 395 still held at Guantánamo today. None of the detainees has ever had anything approaching a fair trial. Only 10 have ever had formal charges laid against them. Many are reportedly held in near-total isolation, and over the years both camp staff and released detainees have reported highly abusive treatment at the camp.

Guantánamo is a stain on America's honor. Like the episodes of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Guantánamo (rightly) affects the standing of the US around the world. Even President Bush recognizes the problem: He has expressed a desire eventually to shut Guantánamo down. He and Congress should work speedily together to achieve this goal.

Emphasis mine.