The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp should not exist. It costs U.S. taxpayers $1.2 million per day, and inflicts incalculable damage to America’s reputation. The Obama Administration knows this, and waves of hunger strikes by prisoners over the past several months have prompted renewed efforts to empty it. Friday, the White House revealed it intends to send two prisoners home to Algeria. Last month, the president picked Clifford Sloan, a D.C. lawyer, to reopen the State Department's Office of Guantanamo Closure, which will seek ways to send home the 86 prisoners who were cleared for release years ago (some during the Bush administration). And the Pentagon last week announced new parole-style hearings to consider releasing some of the prisoners who won’t be tried for war crimes but were considered too dangerous to let go.
These are improvements indeed, but they're not enough. It's time for the military to step down from running the camp.
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