Happy Birthday, Guantanamo

It was five years ago today that the first detainees in the war on terror left Afghanistan on a flight to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They arrived at Gitmo in the early morning hours of January 11, so most of the major protests against the facility will actually take place tomorrow on the official anniversary of their arrival. Doesn't it seem so long ago, before the hunger strikes, the detainee suicides, the release of so many prisoners without comment, the international outrage, the Supreme Court rebuke, and Bush's trump card of making the place home to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind? Despite Bush's admission last summer that he'd like to see Gitmo closed, new buildings are going up to house more prisoners and the military tribunals for them. It looks like Gitmo will be blowing out six candles next year.