Rumors about that the Bush Administration is preparing to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, the prison is a viscous degradation of the American ideal. The United States should not keep secret prisons.

On the other, what if this appeases critics of the secret detention, and removes the prisoners, still anonymous, into brutal custody of some of our client states, as has been done before? While these prisoners remain in American jurisdiction, there remains a chance that we can restore openness, a point that will be rendered moot if the prison is closed. And it seems better to me that the prisoners remain under what I pray is more civilized American standards, rather than scattered secretly to parts unknown for more abuse, abuse ultimately unanswerable to American justice.

It seems like such a gimmee for the Bush Administration that for once I'm grateful for W's intransigence.