Putting people in cages for life with no charges — thousands of miles from their homes — is inherently torturous. While Salih acknowledged fighting for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance, there is no evidence that he ever engaged in or planned to engage in terrorist acts or acts of violence of any kind against the U.S.  Apparently, though, hes one of the Worst of the Worst we keep hearing about – Too Dangerous To Release even if we cant charge him with any crime.
Along those lines, Sen. Russ Feingold will hold a hearing a week from today, at 10:00 a.m., on Obamas proposal for indefinite “preventive detention,” entitled “The Legal, Moral, and National Security Consequences of ‘Prolonged Detention” Feingolds letter excoriating Obamas proposal is here.  Other Democrats, such as Rep. Jerry Nadler, have already announced they will oppose Obamas detention policy.  Closing Guantanamo obviously does nothing to solve these problems if the same system of indefinite detention without charges is simply transported to a new location.  As todays NYT article put it:  “detainees lawyers, including those representing other Yemeni detainees, have been saying that many prisoners are desperate and that many are suicidal because they see no end to their detention.”  Its the system of indefinite detention with no trials, not the locale of the cage, that is so oppressive and destructive.
Glenn Greenwald | Salon.com