LET'S DO A LITTLE ROUNDUP OF OPINIONS ABOUT GUANTANAMO

The radio wingers oppose the shutdown of the Guantanamo detention facility although they never, ever tell what others think. We know that the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the head of US Central Command all want the facility closed, as do 3 other flag officers.

The latest military person to support the closing is none other than the general who oversaw its construction.

Marine who built Gitmo: US lost moral high ground
Sep 25 01:36 PM US/Eastern

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - The Marine commander who built the Guantanamo Bay prison said Thursday the U.S. lost the "moral high ground" with its brutal treatment of prisoners, and the facility should be closed as quickly as possible.

It was the first time Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert publicly acknowledged his doubts, although he said he did make his concerns known through the appropriate chain of command.

Lehnert, 58, was commander of Joint Task Force 160 when it was assigned to build prison cells in 2001 at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba to hold designated "enemy combatants" from Afghanistan and elsewhere.

"I wanted to run it close to Geneva Convention rules," Lehnert said. "Our job was to take them out of the fight, and once we had done that, I felt we had a moral responsibility to take care of them."

However, another task force was put in charge of interrogating detainees, and there were disagreements over their treatment, Lehnert said.

"I think it is extraordinarily important how we treat prisoners," he said. "Obviously, there were other views."

"I came to the conclusion very soon that this probably wasn't the right way to go," said Lehnert, who served just 100 days at the base.

"Probably before I left Guantanamo, I was of the opinion it needed to go away as soon as possible," he said.