While Guantánamo exists, the nation's prestige in the world community suffers. Even worse, al-Qaeda operatives will be able to use the prison as a rallying cry when seeking recruits.
Past abuses in the interrogation of detainees at Guantánamo and other U.S. prisons - although banned now - have put American troops at risk of similar treatment if captured.
Obama may be the world's most powerful leader, but he has been thwarted by Congress at virtually every step in trying to deliver on a 2008 campaign pledge to turn out the lights at Guantánamo.
Congressional action tied the president's hands on spending related to any planning, much less carrying out, the prison's closure.
The same brick wall was thrown up to the Justice Department's attempts to do the right thing by bringing as many terror suspects as possible to justice in the federal courts. Meanwhile, the military tribunals designed as stand-ins for the civilian courts have been an utter failure, leading to few proceedings and doing nothing to restore U.S. credibility.
Somehow, the federal courts' conviction of a Guantánamo detainee in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on a charge that will keep him behind bars for years is viewed as a repudiation of Obama's plan to bring terror suspects to court.
Yet that trial accorded the defendant due process and, as such, upheld the democratic standards for which the nation is admired.
It seems that the best hope now is to empty Guantánamo of as many detainees as possible. Indeed, nearly 90 have been cleared for transfer to their home countries since they face no charges. With the remaining 82 detainees, there's hope that at least some can be prosecuted - further winnowing the number being held indefinitely without charge.
Guantánamo supporters no doubt view military detention as a needed get-tough measure to safeguard the nation. Maybe so, but it's an unacceptable affront to cherished American ideals.
