Beyond the practical reasons that warrant closing Guantanamo, humanitarian concerns make it nonsensical to keep the prison open. Most of these prisoners have never been formally charged with a crime -- the U.S. government simply reserves the legal authority to detain anyone they choose until the War on Terror comes to an end.
As a result, the government is able to abstain
from giving each prisoner held in Guantanamo a firm sentence and trial,
violating very basic rights that all other prisoners receive. -- Ryan Townsend, voice of conscience at the University of Southern California
