I know in my heart that this has to be the right thing to do. I totally accept all of the arguments about it being an affront to both humanity and democracy BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Obama orders Guantanamo closure but why do I feel so uneasy about it?
I think the unease is due to the fact that the Bush goverbment had been endlessly feeding the media, and us, a very skewed version of the facts about the inmates. The inmates have neither been released nor put on trial (in any fair and democratic form anyway). We have been lead to believe that they are all hardened terrorists. If that is the case then why weren't they officially charged? The fact that some of the inmates are declared as no threat but the US still won't release them is also questionable. Also, if they are criminals then they should be held as criminals, by civilian authorities. Not the military. So, now, if they are all transferred to the US, due process will start. The simple question is - what if it was a US citizen who was held by another country in a similar manner? The US would have their army and navy on the country's doorstep within days. Is the release of some of the inmates going to be a threat to the US? Of course. Some of the innocent inmates may not have been radical before, but they maybe now. Look at the internments in northern Ireland in the 1970s. Many turned to radicalism after they had been mistreated not before
