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Obama to fulfil promise and shut Guantanamo

By John Hirst

Obama to fulfil promise and shut Guantanamo

As one of his first acts in the White House, Barack Obama is preparing to move hundreds of detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison to the US where they will be given legal hearings, trials or face yet-to-be-established special terrorist courts.

Mr Obama has a long-standing commitment to shut down Guantanamo, which has become a symbol of injustice for human rights campaigners, and a lightning rod for anti-US criticism since it opened eight years ago. Closing the prison, which is on a part of Cuba leased to the US, will bring to an end one of the most poisonous legacies of the Bush administration while sending a signal that the "war on terror" is under more enlightened management.

Closing Guantanamo Bay is only part of the solution. The so-called "war on terror", which is a hazy concept, should be abandoned all together and not simply take a softer approach. A state can declare war upon another state, but it is meaningless to declare war upon an idea. It was never a good idea in the first place. Political posturing which only led to other states all trying to be more oppressive and repressive to deal with a phantom threat.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on November 11, 2008 (boomark / email).