Infamy taints Guantanamo’s 20-year history. It’s past time to shut it down

Just two days after taking office in 2009, President Barack Obama ordered the shutdown of Guantanamo. The detention compound at the U.S. naval base on the southern coast of Cuba was built to hold militants captured in the course of the post-9/11 war on terror. But by the time of Obama’s ascent to the White House, Guantanamo had become synonymous with hypocrisy. America insisted that other nations treat detainees with dignity, and yet secretly tortured and mistreated individuals it had in custody at Guantanamo, relying on the cover of national security to justify its actions. In signing an exec...