Deaths at Guantanamo

Guantanamo made a mockery of US claims to respect human rights before three inmates committed suicide there last weekend. The deaths have brought renewed criticism from Washington's closest ally in the fight against terrorism, Great Britain, among others. The continued detention, without charges, of hundreds of men caught mainly in the Afghan war in 2001 isolates the United States in world opinion. Many of the detainees doubtless are dangerous, but the United States should have long since used either criminal trials or military tribunals with full due process rights to determine which detainees should be held and which freed.

The 460 detainees (there were about 600 at one point) have been at Guantanamo for a period almost as long as US involvement in World War II, but just 10 have been charged with any offenses. None of the three who committed suicide had been charged. One, though he apparently didn't know it, was on schedule to be released to his homeland if an appropriate form of detention could be arranged there.

Many detainees, facing the prospect of no trial and endless separation from family and friends had attempted suicide in the past. Inmates trying to kill themselves with food strikes are fed through tubes and strapped in restraint chairs to keep them from intentionally vomiting. A policy of guard checks every two minutes had kept other inmates from succeeding at suicide until last weekend, when at least one prisoner tricked guards into thinking he was sleeping.

Instead of recognizing the three suicides as acts of hopelessness, US officials said they were ``an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us" and a ``good PR move." The graceless remarks bring further dishonor on the United States.

In 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that the Bush administration had no right to hold persons without charge at Guantanamo and without a right to challenge their detention in court, after which Congress passed a law stripping the inmates of even that right. Since then, not just British officials but Germany's chancellor, Denmark's prime minister, a UN commission, and the European Union have all called for closing Guantanamo or decried the US treatment of its inmates.

By the end of this month, a Supreme Court with new Bush appointees John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr. is expected to rule on the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, whose detention was ruled by a federal district court judge to violate US and international law. The court could spare the Bush administration further shame by ruling in Hamdan's favor and pushing the United States to do what it long since should have -- resolve the cases of the detainees fairly and close Guantanamo.