The Gitmo Opposition

More pressure to close the prison at Guantanamo.

Leading politicians from the two main political British parties, and a judge in Britain's high court, said allegations of torture at the camp meant the US should close it as soon as possible.

So no actual facts are necessary in order to demand that the US follow certain policy.  What kind of a precedent would that set up?

The Members of the European Parliament (MEP) also "demanded that prisoners held in the camp be treated in conformity with international law."

"Guantánamo is a scandal. The founding fathers of the United States must be turning in their graves at the constitutional outrage whereby America practises illegal detention, ill-treatment and even torture," said UK liberal MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford.

The Voice of America reports that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he didn't agree with everything in the UN special investigators report – he said it wasn't an official UN report – he did agree with its findings that the detainees held there should be tried immediately or released. The US should close the prison "as soon as possible," he said.

OK, think about what is being said here.  A UK liberal is saying that America “practices illegal detention,” whereas allegations of mistreatment of prisoners is just that: allegation, not fact.  But this UN report is not even an official UN report?  What is it then?  Who drew it up and were are they getting their information. 

Not that long ago, Democratic Senators, no patsy for the current administration, took a trip to the prison and declared that nothing fishy was going on there.  So why is it that folks with an axe to grind, and no facts about actual mistreatment, get to pressure the U.S. into conformance with certain leftist policies?

This BBC article is an bit of information on the process that some of the detainees are allowed to challenge their detention.  One thing to get from the article is the tension between those who insist that these are military detentions during a war, and those who insist that each prisoner has the right to challenge the legality of their detention before a judicial body.  Basically those who think we are at war and those who don’t.