I know not whether Laws be right,
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know who lie in gaol
Is that the wall is strong;
And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.
–Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol
Someday we’ll be asked why they hate us:
Even in a courtroom that was closed to the public and the press, and with the detainees allowed access to the proceedings only by telephone, the court could find no reason to hold these men. This decision makes it clear once again that even with presumptions in its favor, the government cannot muster the barest evidence in support of its arbitrary detentions. For seven years, the Bush administration sought to avoid the courts because it had no evidence and sought instead to create a lawless prison.
They created a lawless prison. If I had to sum up the past eight years in a single sentence that would be it. They created a lawless prison. And I’m not talking about Guantanamo. I’m not talking about Guantanamo at all.
A.