A new review of medical documents from Guantanamo indicates that medical doctors and mental health professionals there routinely ignored evidence of torture. 9 cases at the illegal prison run by the U.S. government were reviewed, and in all 9 cases, “medical personnel who treated the detainees at GTMO failed to inquire and/or document causes of the physical injuries and psychological symptoms they observed.” The very people who were supposed to investigate and report evidence of torture neglected to do so.

So what? Aren’t the prisoners in Guantanamo just a bunch of rotten terrorists who deserve to be tortured?

1. Torture is illegal, no matter who the target of torture is
2. Medical doctors are ethically bound to report the purposeful infliction of harm and pain on the patients they treat
3. None of the people imprisoned in Guantanamo have been given a fair trial to determine guilt of terrorism, and under United States law, innocence is presumed and punishment comes after conviction, not before it
4. Documents show that the U.S. government itself concluded that there was evidence that hundreds of people imprisoned in Guantanamo had no connection at all to any terrorist group

Barack Obama has decided to keep the Guantanamo prisons open.