Ten years on, Guantanamo still casts long shadow

Ten years ago the world was shocked by images of terror suspects locked in cages on a remote US base in Cuba. Today 171 men are still there, despite vows to close the notorious Guantanamo prison.
On January 11, 2002, about 20 prisoners arrived at the base, hooded, handcuffed and clothed in distinctive orange garb. They were put on display at the prison erected on the military base rented from Cuba under a deal stretching back to 1903.
Quickly Guantanamo became a notorious symbol for the worst of the US excesses in the war on al-Qaeda launched in the days that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Today, a decade later the cages are gone, abandoned to the weeds and the iguanas which roam the base.
But despite President Barack Obama's celebrated promise to shutter the prison the more permanent buildings constructed from May 2002 onwards remain.
"Although President Obama remains committed to the goal of closing Guantanamo, the US Congress has taken action to prevent steps that would assist in the realization of this goal," Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale told AFP.
And within the walls still languish 171 men, out of a total of 779 who have passed through the gates in the last 10 years.
Those detainees still remaining have greater freedom than in the early days, with access to newspapers and televisions, some phone calls home, and with 80 percent of them allowed to mingle in common areas.
"Guantanamo has come to symbolize 10 years of a systematic failure by the US to respect human rights in its response to the 9/11 attacks," said Amnesty International's Rob Freer.
"It remains an insult to human rights, not just a symbol of abuse or ill-treatment, a symbol of continuing attack on human rights international principles... (the) failure of the US to ensure accountability," he said.