One resignation can't remove detention stain

[struggle4progress]

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

(MCT)

The following editorial appeared in the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday, Feb. 6:

Cully Stimson, the official in charge of the Office of Detainee Affairs in the Department of Defense, had the decency to resign last Friday ...

Stimson's resignation saved his bosses the trouble of firing him. But his departure does nothing to resolve the larger problem, which is the Bush administration's policy on detentions.

The president treats detainees, most of them swept up in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002, neither as prisoners of war nor as criminals. They have fallen into legal limbo, in detention indefinitely. Most have now been in custody longer than World War II lasted. Only 10 have been charged with a crime; none has been convicted. Some detainees have been transferred to the custody of their home countries, but about 395 remain ...

The harm these detentions do to our international credibility and to our traditional sense of fairness is immeasurable ...

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/16642372.htm