Obama's military kangaroo courts for Guantanamo prisoners are getting stuck on the issue of how the CIA tortured the defendants.

Some of those people may be guilty of real crimes, but if the US can't give them a fair trial because the US tortured them, it has to let them go. Let that be a lesson to us: no torture!

Some fraction of those released may fight the US, but we should not overestimate the importance of that. Violent Islamist groups have thousands of members; a few more won't make much difference. What mainly affects their strength is their ability to recruit.

Guantanamo serves them very well as a recruiting tool, and so does the US refusal to face justice for its torture. Try as they might, a few ex-prisoners won't be able to do the US the sort of harm that the US does to itself.

The US must stop betraying what it stands for, so that it can inspire honest friendship and support around the world, instead of inspiring people to join Islamist fanatic groups.