Two comments by United States representatives on the suicides of three young men in the Guantánamo Bay prison point up the profound gulf in values that has opened up between their country and Europe. Rear Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the military base, said he believed "this was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetrical war against us". And Colleen Graffy, under-secretary for public diplomacy at the State Department said the suicides were a "good PR move" by the prisoners "who don't value their own life".
Although other representatives of the Bush administration distanced themselves from these comments, they are bound to stick and will reinforce the notion of a breakdown in transatlantic ethical cohesion. They strengthen European demands, repeated yesterday, that the prison be closed immediately and its prisoners put on trial or released. It is high time this was done.
Most of the 460 prisoners have been held for four years or more. Only 10 have been charged, none put on trial. There is insufficient evidence for them to be held legally. Many have been repeatedly beaten, shackled, sexually humiliated and deprived of sleep or otherwise tortured, whether in Guantánamo or in other prisons used in the US rendition programme. Those on hunger strike have been force fed and there are 45 cases of attempted suicide so far.
President Bush has said he would like to close the prison and wants other countries to accept prisoners. But he said some of them were dangerous and should be tried in the US, if the supreme court agrees. Undoubtedly this is true. But the issue should be decided by due legal process and the application of international human rights law, not by arbitrary detention.
While this seems plain to most Europeans who do not accept they are at war, it is much less so in the US, where the "war on terrorism" remains credible, notwithstanding the disasters in Iraq. There is a clear trans-atlantic conflict of values; but this should not conceal the fact that many Americans also believe Guantánamo should be closed. The diversity of US opinion should not be lost sight of in these arguments. It was evident yesterday even in the way members of the Bush administration felt it necessary to distance themselves from these remarks in response to US opinion.
This issue will be discussed in detail at the forthcoming US-EU summit in Vienna. There was unanimity among EU foreign ministers yesterday on the need to close Guantánamo if human rights are to be upheld and protected. This is a welcome maturing of EU foreign policy. It should be set alongside the lead the Europeans have taken in negotiating with Iran over its nuclear programme. Differences in values over human rights need to be channelled politically if they are to be made effective. The best way to uphold them and the Geneva Convention on prisoners' rights is to demand that Guantánamo be closed.