8 Reasons to Close Guantanamo Now

Amnesty International and other human rights groups have long been calling for closure of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, which has come to symbolize much of what is wrong with the Bush administration's approach to the "war on terror".

Now, in an article in In These Times, Karen J. Greenburg explores eight powerful reasons to close Gitmo now.

The article starts out like this:

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The first detainees arrived in Guantanamo four months to the day after the 9/11 attacks. From the opening of Camp X-Ray—the first site of imprisonment, notorious for its tin-roofed open-air cages—to the recently completed permanent prison known as Camp 6, critics have called for its closure. Even President Bush has said, "I'd like to end Guantanamo. I'd like it to be over with." Yet he refuses to close it because, he says, it holds detainees who "will murder somebody if they are let out on the street."

It’s time to look at the powerful reasons to close Guantanamo, both the standard ones enumerated below -- and also what may be the most compelling, if unspoken, one of all: Guantanamo must be closed because the United States needs to indicate that it has decided to change course. Closing Guantanamo will help to restore America's standing in the world and in the eyes of its own citizens.

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[Check out the eight good reasons to close Gitmo.]