Why Gitmo ought to be closed

It is hard to feel anything but nauseous when reading the Guardian’s continuing special report on Guantanamo Bay, which started yesterday. The paper has released hundreds of classified files which were obtained last year by Wikileaks, including detainee assessments prepared between 2002 and 2009 to summarise what the government knew about each detainee — and they do not paint a pretty picture. Some detainees are clearly guilty as sin. But others seem to have been caught in the crosshairs of conflict.

One example seems to be Abdul Badr Mannan, who was arrested in Pakistan and turned over to US forces in the belief that he was affiliated with al-Qaeda. According to the US authorities, this belief turned out to be false and Abdul Mannan was most likely arrested and sent to prison because he had been “extremely critical of the Pakistani intelligence service,” and “may have been arrested on that pretence and turned over to US authorities, who were misled as to the detainee’s affiliations.