GUANTANAMO DEATHS

The Bush administration didn’t need the suicides of three Guantanamo detainees last week to demonstrate the effectiveness of a prison system that spreads hopelessness among its population. More than three dozen prisoners had already attempted suicide at the camp. This certainly isn’t to say the administration wanted the detainees to kill themselves; merely that it is the unsurprising result.

Guards at the camp reportedly are supposed to check on prisoners every two minutes, something that might not have happened in the cases of Mani bin Shaman bin Turki al Habardi, Yasser Talal Abdulah Yahya al Zahani and Ali Abdullah Ahmed. The men had time to conceal themselves before putting nooses around their necks, with one hanging himself behind a blind of laundry. Military officials say they are addressing the problem by considering whether to ban prisoners from doing laundry in their cells.

President Bush has said the Guantanamo prison should close, though he has not said when. A recent lengthy review of U.S. policies by a United Nations panel of human rights officials concludes it should be soon. World leaders, including those from Germany and the Netherlands, have said it should close; Britain’s Attorney General Peter Goldsmith has called the existence of the camp “unacceptable.”

The prison is one of the rare places on earth that will provoke sympathy for terrorists – assuming a court eventually gets to hear the charges against the detainees and some or all are found guilty. An administration spokesman recently said decisions about the future of Guantanamo await a Supreme Court ruling in the Salim Ahmed Hamdan case, which concerns the question of whether prisoners can be tried in front of a military commission.

That decision is expected soon, but without a trial, prisoners could have a difficult time returning to their home countries. They may not be wanted there or could be imprisoned, as may be the fate of 15 Saudi detainees transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Saudi custody last month, according to Human Rights Watch.

The 465 detainees at Guantanamo have been isolated, interrogated, shamed and humiliated. Their suicide attempts are not surprising, and the response of force-feeding is one more reaction that began in 2001 with an overreaction to the very real threat of terrorism. The way out of this inter-national disgrace is not easy but it is clear: Full and fair trials, with adequate legal representation. Send back to prison those who are found guilty and announce loudly and apologetically the names of those who are not.

The administration still has an opportunity to make these decisions itself – it owns the majority of both houses of Congress, for now. History will judge it more kindly if it corrects its own mistakes rather than waiting for the next administration. Or the next round of suicides that make the corrections unavoidable.