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I opened the detention facility at Guantánamo. It’s time to close it | Guest Opinion BY MICHAEL LEHNERT

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MY SAY: I served with BG Michael Lehnert at Gitmo in the early days, and with all due respect, he was never trained in military detention operations. Add to that, the Department of Defense chose to ignore the advice of those who were trained and experienced in Enemy Prisoner of War (detention) operations and then make it up as they went. I served at Gitmo as the ranking US Army Medical Department officer with the Joint Detainee Operations Group, Joint Task Force 160, General Lehnert's command. My unit, the 455th Military Police Detachment (Brigade Liaison Detachment - BLD) was part of the 800th Military Police Brigade (Enemy Prisoner of War), out of Uniondale, NY. We trained vigorously before 9/11/2001 from lessons learned in the First Gulf War - Operation Desert Storm. Our Army Reserve unit was flush with civilian law enforcement officers, logistics, legal, medical, transportation and other experts focused on one thing: Compliance with the Law of War and the Geneva Conventions. Only the Army has large scale detention operations, and most of the units for that mission were Reserve units - if there's no war, you don't need a lot of war time combat support and combat service support units on Active Duty, like medical, transportation Military Police, etc. So, when 9/11 happened we were ready and immensely well prepared to perform our duties by the book, and a book General Lehnert never read, or had to, or needed to. He did what good Marines do: Mission First. I disagree with the good General, who shook my hand and mugged for a snapshot at his going away party, about his perceptions of the mission at Gitmo. First, tens of thousands of unlawful combatant Islamists were apprehended on the battlefield after 9/11, but only just under 800 ever made it to Gitmo. President Bush wrote in his memoir, "Decision Points," that "waterboarding was performed on a handful of detainees in order to obtain valuable information that saved many lives." Waterboarding, along with other Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, were legal and approved, and did not meet the internationally accepted definition of torture at the time. Only later, under President Barack Hussein Obama did he unilaterally declare EIT torture. He also signed the Military Commissions Act of 2009, which gave unlawful combatant Islamists who want to kill us virtually the same rights you or I would enjoy in a federal court of law. Donald Rumsfeld said, in his autobiography, Known and Unknown, that "No DoD personnel, uniformed or civilian were ever trained in waterboarding or EIT." Only the CIA were trained in those techniques. The military mission, even though in the early days there were TWO Joint Task Forces, 160 under General Lehnert for incarceration, and JTF 170, under a two star general, for the intelligence mission. If you can count stars you know which mission had precedence. Fair enough. The information received was life-saving. The myths and misperceptions about Gitmo thrive even today. Most people don't know or understand that even lawful combatant POWs may be held without charge or trial "until the end of hostilities," as per the Geneva Conventions and Law of War. Unlawful combatants can be shot dead on the battlefield, and are not covered with the rights and privileges granted lawful combatants. However, as the General said, we chose to treat them within the spirit if not the letter of Geneva. Besides, that's the only way we trained. I worked with ICRC physicians who told me, "No one does [detention operations] better than the US." The press were allowed to come close but not in the detention facilities, but took and published photos they never should have, or should have been allowed to take. A regret of Don Rumsfeld he mentioned in his book. The reason for that is the media is a business first. They are not the least bit concerned with facts or truth if it doesn't sell. I learned that directly when CNN's Bob Franken threatened my boss and I, that he would "make it up" if we didn't tell him when we planned to move detainees from the make-shift Camp X-Ray to the new and improved Camp Delta in April of 2002. Of course we couldn't tell him that, so, he made it up! He broke a story that wasn't true! We made sure to NOT move the detainees when he said we would. But the line was drawn. The press were not on our side. Gitmo is the finest military detention facility on earth, and serves to legally and humanely detain suspected war criminals until trial. Those who were deemed no longer a threat or of any intelligence value were released. General Lehnert said we should let the federal courts try those left, but they are not entitled to that adjudication. What the General failed to mention that roughly 75% of those terrorists already convicted in US federal courts have served their sentences and have been released. Also, over 740 Gitmo detainees have been released, and NONE have been beheaded, executed, blown up, hacked to death, dragged naked and lifeless through the streets, drowned or burned alive. All things our enemies have done to US and/or our allies. There is no moral comparison between Gitmo and how our enemies treat their captives. Gitmo detainees receive FREE Qurans, prayer rugs/beads, directions to Mecca, halal and special holy holiday Muslim meals featuring lamb and baklava, services of US military Muslim Chaplains, white robes, beards, world class health, vision and dental care, recreation, correspondence, TV, video games, DVDs, books, library services, games, sports and more. How much of that would be offered to US POWs or detainees? General Lehnert served honorably at Gitmo, but he never understood it, and doesn't now. Gitmo is a small piece to the big puzzle of how we win the Global War on Terror. If we restore the UCMJ as the governing rules for prosecution of suspected war criminals we can swiftly and justly adjudicate present and future unlawful combatant Islamists who want to kill us. In 1942, 6 of 8 German saboteurs, caught dry foot on US soil, were executed within eight weeks of their capture. They had the means and intent to harm US citizens and destroy US property, and we denied habeas corpus, tried them by military commission and found guilty of breaking the Geneva Conventions. Oh, and none of them hurt a fly nor did they destroy or damage any property, they merely broke the law. What's different now? Until all Islamists are dead or no longer have the means or will to kill us, we must defend ourselves, and Gitmo is one of the ways we can help ensure the safety and security of our nation and our interests.