The Guantánamo Peril - Aziz Huq

Death is typically a moment of truth. But the occasion of three suicides at the Guantánamo Bay—where almost 500 men and boys have been held without trial for up to four years now—have only proved how poorly the Administration grasps the facts of today’s terrorism challenge. And it only showed how deeply ineffectual and counterproductive U.S. counter-terrorism policy becomes when based on flawed assumptions.

The U.S. response revealed how little it has learned since it first launched its “global war on terror” five years ago. The camp’s commander Rear Admiral Harry B. Harris described  the detainees’ decision as “an act of asymmetrical warfare.” The Deputy Assistant of State Colleen Graffy classed the deaths as “a good PR move.” And Southcom commander General Bantz J. Craddock commented that, “This may be an attempt to influence the judicial proceedings” of a case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court about the President’s ad hoc military commissions.