American Civil Liberties Union

Remember back in the 1980s when some cars only had one side rear-view mirror? Remember how that was later made illegal, and cars were required to have mirrors on both sides as a matter of safety?

On Friday, Gen. David Petraeus was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, "It is time to take the rear-view mirrors off the bus with respect to certain actions out there." Now, I remember driver education, and I remember the video showing just how large buses' blind spots are and just how necessary their mirrors are. As any 16-year old in drivers' ed can tell you, rear-view mirrors — and the ability to see behind yourself — are paramount to safety on the road.

Last night, a handful of news organizations released hundreds of pages of documents profiling past and present detainees held at Guantánamo. Among other things, the documents reveal:

• Evidence the government held detainees not because they were serious threats, but rather because the government thought the detainee could be of some use in the future.
• The government has imprisoned children as young as 14, and men as old as 89 at Guantánamo.
• Possession of a of a widely available Casio wristwatch was a "sign of al-Qaeda" and a factor in the government’s decision to detention.
• An al-Jazeera cameraman was held not because he was suspected of terrorist activity, but because the U.S. government wanted details on al-Jazeera's news-gathering capabilities.

The New York Times reports:

Nine years ago today, a Department of Defense C-141 transport plane carrying 20 prisoners arrived in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. On that day, January 11, 2002, the naval base began operating as a detention center for men captured in President Bush's so-called "war on terror." Today, the detention center at Guantánamo Bay enters its 10th year of operation. More than 170 prisoners continue to be detained indefinitely there.