Gitmo Violates Both American And International Law

I have posted several times about the unconstitutional prison the United States has established at Guantanamo Bay. For years the United States has housed prisoners in that facility without charging them with a crime, giving them a trial, or even allowing them access to a court to legally challenge their imprisonment.

The United States has always claimed to be a nation governed by the "rule of law", where even the agencies of government must abide by legal restrictions. But the atrocities of Gitmo makes a laughingstock of the rule of law, since the government can now hold prisoners indefinitely (including American citizens) with out charges by simply labeling them as "terrorists".

It now turns out that the activities of the U.S. government in Gitmo not only violate U.S. laws and constitutional protections, but also violate international law. That is the conclusion of United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay. He noted that while the U.S. has held hundreds of prisoners at Gitmo, only six have been charged and tried while eight have died in custody. Pillay said:

“While fully recognizing the right and duty of states to protect their people and territory from terrorist acts, I remind all branches of the U.S. government of their obligation under international human rights law to ensure that individuals deprived of their liberty can have the lawfulness of their detention reviewed before a court,” Pillay said. “Where credible evidence exists against Guantanamo detainees, they should be charged and prosecuted. Otherwise, they must be released.”

Isn't it time for the President to keep his campaign promise and close the prison at Guantanamo? The argument that it is necessary to control terrorism is ludicrous. In the past, the government has not had any problem with trying and convicting those guilty of terrorism, while following the rule of law. The only thing that has changed is the election of weak-minded fear-mongering politicians who want to use terrorism as their ticket to stay in office. Frankly, it would be better to get rid of them than to toss out the Constitution.