To the Editor:
Re “Guantánamo Must Be Closed” (editorial, Dec. 18):
Heralding the pending transfer of detainees from Guantánamo to Illinois is premature. As it stands now, this transfer does not meaningfully change the dubious legal status of these detainees, nor guarantee them basic legal rights that were absent at Guantánamo.
A military commission is no more legitimate on American soil than it is on a naval base in Guantánamo. Indefinite detention without charge is no more palatable.
Amnesty International will continue to hold President Obama accountable for his promise to deliver real justice.
Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International
New York, Dec. 18, 2009
Note from KBJ: Justice consists in treating likes alike and unlikes differently, in proportion to their differences. The letter writer wants detainees to be treated like run-of-the-mill criminal suspects, but does nothing to show that they are alike in all relevant respects. I wish people who use the word "justice" knew what they were talking about.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 