Elizabeth Buckner's Jan. 29 letter was ridiculous ("Obama makes bad early decision to close Guantanamo.")

Doesn't she know, based solely on the "request" of a president, American citizens were spied on and the Constitution was shredded?

Where were public hearings for any detainees at Guantanamo for the last seven years?

Many have never been charged with a crime.

Since when do we grab people off the streets and imprison them just because of their ethnicity? Answer: Japanese Americans in World War II.

The ones who did commit crimes still have rights to a trial. Buckner doesn't want trials here. Would she prefer somewhere that doesn't have a Bill of Rights?

She cannot believe "sworn enemies of our country" have more rights than the average citizen. How does she know they're sworn enemies of our country?

They've never been charged with a crime nor had a trial.

Buckner says "prosecutors have been working tirelessly."

Any district attorney who took seven years to develop a case would be disbarred.

Worst of all, she says Guantanamo kept criminals from harming American soldiers.

The greatest harm to America's soldiers and citizens was from George W. Bush, his administration and people like Buckner who supported them.

Guantanamo and the tortures that occurred there were the biggest recruiting tools that Al Qaeda ever had.

Common sense and any study ever done agree that torture doesn't provide reliable information and gives our real enemies an excuse to torture us.

When they do close Guantanamo, it could be used to imprison Bush and his cronies after they're convicted of war crimes.

Unlike the prisoners being held there now, they should be given a fair trial first, and the only torture they should undergo is the anguish they would feel about what they've done to America.

But you must have a conscience for that.

If called to serve on the jury, I would, of course, decline on grounds that citizens are presumed innocent until proven guilty- and I can't overlook what they've already admitted.

But I'm sure we'll be able to find an unbiased jury. Sherry Jensen Thousand Oaks