Guantanamo is still open, but in the process of being closed.

But there are still black sites around the world, and people in them probably still being tortured, by the United States — the country that is supposed to stand for justice and peace.

These sites, as well as Gitmo, need to be closed.  There is no oversight and no control.

Torture is against international law.  It is against the law of common decency and against humanity.  It is heinous and unconscionable, barbaric and medieval, and it has no place in a civilized society.

While I am no expert, I was a nurse and I think that we are doing a lot of psychological and physical damage to these people, and we are lowering ourselves to the level of the jihadists.  Why does America allow itself to be dragged down into the mud, when we should be the shining example to the world for human rights, equality and justice?

I am just as angry about 9/11 as every other American — as every other world citizen — but this is not justified.

The men who developed these techniques, who oversaw these works are professional men — psychiatrists, who got paid millions of dollars for this.  This is blood money, pure and simple.

Gitmo must be closed to show the world that we are not hypocrites; that America actually lives according to its own precepts and laws and according to the same standards to which we hold other nations.

For those who would respond: They were enemy combatants.  They deserve what they got, and we needed the intelligence, I would respond that no one deserves to be stripped of all human rights and dignity, and would also point out that even the CIA has said that these techniques are not reliable for intelligence, as a tortured person will say or do anything to get the torture to stop.

We must stop injustice wherever it lies — even in our own prisons and black sites.  No exceptions.

Namaste,

Barbara