Al Jazeera Readers on Closing Guantanamo

Econo-Girl has increasing respect for Al Jazeera. Right now they are hosting an open forum on readers' opinions on closing Guantanamo Bay.

Many of the comments are from Americans. Still, in a futile bid to get Americans exposed to foreign perspectives, Econo-Girl links to it. Click on the title to this post to see the comments.

From the Czech Republic, Franta Vrna writes: "[A]nyone who believes that Islamic terrorists are a real threat to Europe or the USA is naive. The main objective for these islamist groups is to seize power in countries of their origin, from which they have been kicked off."

From Belgium, Van Zwam writes: "It should be closed now and those responsible for organising it should be sent to court on charges of crimes against humanity."

From Bangladesh, Jahwa Macs writes: "Guantanamo is a symbol. Closing guantanamo is not the real problem. The creator of guantanamo must stop. "

From the U.S., R. Keeter writes: "There are numerous accusations of torture and mistreatment of the detainees in Guantanamo. However, none of the complainants has any evidence to support their allegations. In fact, I have spoken with a variety of military police personnel that have worked in Guantanamo, and they state unequivocally the detainees receive excellent treatment."

From China, Will writes: "Whether you count the men at Guantanamo as ordinary prisoners or prisoners of war, their certain inalienable rights such as those the USA was founded upon - like the right to fair trial by members of the public, the presumption of innocence until found guilty by said court and the right not to be tortured. Or would the USA not consider stress positions, sleep deprivation, mock executions and being smothered with your own excrement to be torture?"