CNN.com - U.N.: Guantanamo detainees should be freed or tried - Feb 16, 2006

CNN.com - U.N.: Guantanamo detainees should be freed or tried - Feb 16, 2006: "Although the authors of the U.N. report declined to visit the military facility to gather information, the report was based on interviews with former detainees, lawyers, public documents, media reports and a questionnaire filled out by the U.S. government.. The United States has designated detainees as enemy combatants."

The sources for this report are ludicrous. Detainees, (their?) attorneys, public documents and media reports? Those in support of closing Gitmo will likely not find anything odd or possibly biased about the sources, but they certainly are highly questionable. In this day and age with the sad state of journalism, we are to trust it in this instance? The media rarely, if ever questions itself. Nor does it cover previous reporting where they were mistaken; when they do it is hidden. They haven't been able to be straight forward in the reporting regarding Joseph Wilson, i.e. report after trip, different than Oped piece, was suggested by wife, didn't see documents he referred to. The media may have mentioned these things at one point, but not so completely as they didn't. Future articles from based upon that "scandal," always refer to the basics; challenged 16 words, Administration lied, etc., but never recover the questionableness of Wilson himself.

We definately do need to discuss the Gitmo situation considering that the end in sight for the war against extremists is well beyond the horizon, but it needs to be discussed realistically. Not with histrionics, bias and an alternate reality. These are not criminal law cases that are in question, yet so many want it to be that way, because it makes sense and is easier to comprehend. Unfortunately, as much as many people don't truly want to face or consider the scope of what is going on; we cannot just pass it off as something it is not.

People base how they feel about this, that or the other thing based on their informed opinion. How that opinion is informed is no small question. The media doesn't cover it appropriately in any sense.

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Should the United States close its prison at Guantanamo Bay?
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Informed by what?