Out of Guantanamo

Dianne Feinstein continues to impress.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced a measure Monday to force the Pentagon to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and move the trials of Al Qaeda suspects to the United States [...]

In a statement, Feinstein said the detention facility had hurt America's credibility around the world because of allegations of abuse there and doubts about the legal rights afforded detainees.

"We must recognize the sustained damage this facility is doing to our international standing," she said in the statement. "We are better served by closing this facility and transferring the detainees elsewhere."

The Administration doesn't want any of the Gitmo suspects to be moved stateside because they get away with stupid technicalities in court like saying that they are not allowed to have various prisoner protections because they're not on American soil. They also know that, because of torture, they can't try any of these subjects in federal courts, and they would rather segregate them in a detention center where they can be forgotten.

But this is a crucial error. The continued presence of Guantanamo is a symbol of the perversion of justice that has taken place over the last six years. It shows the world that we don't really care about human rights, that we don't care about international treaties, that we don't care about global goodwill. It is well-known that many of the detainees sent to Gitmo were plucked off the streets of Pakistan and fingered by greedy friends and colleagues who wanted to collect a bounty. They weren't terrorists, they were just kids in the wrong place and with the wrong friends. And now we've stripped their rights and their humanity, and we keep this place open anyway. Feinstein is absolutely right, every day that we don't close Guantanamo is another day we inspire rage and hatred throughout the world and lose support among our allies. It's also not who we are as a people.

Of course, we have to go further. We need to overturn the shameful Military Commissions Act, which stripped habeas corpus rights in contravention of hundreds of years of common law. The Supreme Court won't hear detainee challenges to military commisssions, and they probably ought not to do so, since the legislative act has been signed. That genie can only be put back in the bottle by the Congress, the judiciary shouldn't have to bail them out. Chris Dodd's Effective Terrorists Prosecution Act isn't getting much traction in the Senate; if Feinstein wants to truly restore our international standing, she should work with Sen. Dodd on this legislation.