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There's been a lot of sentiment to close down the neocon gulag at Guantanamo. Doing so will barely put a dent in the problem. This isn't the right question to ask.
Guantanamo and the other detentions facilities in Bush's network can stay open as far as I am concerned as long as they cease to be gulags and the regime (or the administration that replaces it after it is removed from power) begins to respect the rights of those held as prisoners of war or as other criminal suspects under the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions.
That means that torture and humiliating treatment stop, not just at Guantanamo, but all of these prisons.
That means that, in accordance with the Third Geneva Convention, those detained in combat are recognized as prisoners of war until a court of law (not G. W. Bush) rules otherwise.
That means that any prisoner of war or other detainee charged with any crime will not have his legal rights abridged.
That means that prisoners of war or other combat detainees are not held indefinitely but are repatriated once hostilities cease.
There are about forty facilities in Bush's offshore network of gulags. Guantanamo is only one of them; there have been over a hundred deaths reported of those in US custodies at these facilities, but none of them at Guantanamo.
We don't need to shut down Guantanamo. We need to open Guantanamo and Bush's other gulags to international inspection to assure that those detained are being treated according the Geneva Conventions.
That is what we should be asking.
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