It will get much less attention than last year's 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, says Elizabeth O'Shea in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, but Wednesday marks a decade since "one of the blackest moments of the war on terror: The opening of Guantanamo Bay detention camp." Gitmo still holds 171 of the 779 prisoners who have been detained there — without "a fair trial and the presumption of innocence." Eighty-nine of today's detainees have been cleared for release, but are stuck in limbo after Congress blocked their transfer. Gitmo "represents an affront to the bedrock principles that underpin Western legal systems," O'Shea argues, and "as a society, we have paid a hefty price" for this miscarriage of justice. Here, an excerpt:
The prison has become a vortex of shame. Fundamental legal principles such as the right to due process should be respected regardless of circumstances. Yet the fact that these prisoners were supposedly the ''worst of the worst'' became a blank check to ride roughshod over long-standing legal protections. As members of an international community that values the rule of law, we are a lesser society as a result. ...
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Mountainhead: Jesse Armstrong's tech bro satire sparkles with 'weapons-grade zingers'The Week Recommends The Succession creator's first feature film lacks the hit TV show's 'dramatic richness' – but makes for a horribly gripping watch
-
Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists – a 'riveting' exhibitionThe Week Recommends Pallant House exhibition offers fascinating instances of painterly reciprocity
-
Geoff Dyer shares his favourite books on warThe Week Recommends Out of Sheer Rage author chooses works by Martha Gellhorn, Michael Herr and Dexter Filkins
