Guantánamo Turns 25: Still Open, Still a Feature, Not a Bug
Twenty-five years. A whole quarter-century since the U.S. opened Guantánamo Bay, a facility the NYT deems a 'persistent symbol of post-9/11 legal dilemmas.' Dilemmas? Or a meticulously crafted legal black hole designed to circumvent domestic and international law? This isn't an accident; it's a feature, ensuring 'suspects'—many held without charge, let alone trial—remain in a state of indefinite
detention. We've seen presidents from Bush to Biden promise closure, yet the facility endures, a concrete monument to exceptionalism and the 'war on terror' that never quite ends. Perhaps the real story isn't that Gitmo is still open, but that its continued operation, despite global condemnation, has simply become normalized. One might wonder how many more anniversaries before the 'dilemma'
becomes 'policy,' and the calls for justice become mere historical footnotes. The silence from many in Washington, especially those who championed indefinite detention, is deafening.