The internal documents from the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, published in The Times on Monday were a chilling reminder of the legal and moral disaster that President George W. Bush created there. They describe the chaos, lawlessness and incompetence in his administration’s system for deciding detainees’ guilt or innocence and assessing whether they would be a threat if released.
Innocent men were picked up on the basis of scant or nonexistent evidence and subjected to lengthy detention and often to abuse and torture. Some people were released who later acted against the United States. Inmates who committed suicide were regarded only as a public relations problem. There are seriously dangerous prisoners at Guantánamo who cannot be released but may never get a real trial because the evidence is so tainted.
The torture has stopped. The inmates’ cases have been reviewed. But the detention camp in Cuba remains a festering sore on this country’s global reputation. Hampered by ideologues and cowards in Congress, President Obama has made scant progress in healing it. ...NYT editorial board
It's only fair and necessary to point out that the New York Times had information-- from two of its top reporters in 2004 -- which would most likely have prevented Bush's reelection and they withheld it for a year rather than publishing it. More here.
David Brooks has a somewhat vapid -- wait, drop that "somewhat" -- op-ed piece in the Times today asking why Americans are so disillusioned. The answer seems obvious: "We have met the enemy and he is us."
