Jan. 11 marked the eighth anniversary of the opening of the detention center at Guantanamo. It is my understanding that this is where torture techniques were field tested before being exported to Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. It remains a blot on the American character. I am ashamed that President Obama has failed to deliver on his promise to close this center.

Claims that some men released from Gauntanamo are engaged in terrorism or terrorist training, are not surprising. If Americans were treated the way these inmates were treated, some obviously would seek revenge. The policy to continue imprisoning individuals who cannot be proven guilty because abusing them has had the effect of radicalizing them discloses more about our character than theirs.

President Obama is in no position to argue that America respects human rights while these individuals continue to be incarcerated for no provable offense. The argument sounds like the kind of language that came out of the Ministry of Truth in George Owell’s novel, “1984”, where War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength.

Our American values of rule by law and fair trials for prisoners does not make us weaker. It is the betrayal of those values which makes us vulnerable.

– Robert Smith