Interview with Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch

The Talking Dog interviews Joanne Mariner, director of the Terrorism and Counterterrorism program at Human Rights Watch, and author of After Guantanamo.

All three presidential front runners favor closing Gitmo, but none has articulated a plan for dismantling the notorious prison.

HRW wants to see all the detainees tried, but that's only the first step. Some detainees could simply be sent home, but others would face death or torture if they went back to their home countries. So, HRW is working with the US and European nations to devise a more comprehensive resettlement program.

The biggest concern is that Guantanamo will be closed and reestablished on US soil:

"Our real fear is that in closing Guantanamo the government might be tempted to pass a preventative detention law "as a solution". This would establish a Guantanamo-like system on United States soil -- potentially permanently. While most preventive detention proposals that I've heard would allow greater procedural guarantees than those afforded at Guantanamo, they would still institutionalize the long-term detention of people without trial, Mariner told The Talking Dog.

The rest of the interview is available here.

Comments

[Margalis]

I find it hard to believe that McCain really wants to close Gitmo. He talks a good game but on torture, Gitmo, Habeas, etc, his votes go along with his Republican colleagues.

[cfrost]

"Our real fear is that in closing Guantanamo the government might be tempted to pass a preventative detention law "as a solution"

Gosh, we had no idea the BushCo chickens might come home to roost one day.