Unlike the last suicides at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the US military has not tried to insult the world’s intelligence by claiming that the latest suicide — of another Saudi — was a public relations exercise to embarrass the US. Nonetheless, the death of Abdul-Rahman ibn Muada ibn Dhafir Al-Amri puts the detention facility firmly back in the dock. It is not because of suspicions about his demise; there is no reason at present to doubt that Al-Amri killed himself, although there are bound to be conspiracy theorists who will convince themselves otherwise. Nor is it the conditions in the camp which may have led Al-Amri, allegedly a Taleban fighter and mid-level Al-Qaeda operative, to kill himself that prompt anger, it is the camp itself.

It is America’s great shame. Almost nobody, not in the US, not anywhere (apart from the Bush administration’s most fervent supporters) have a shed of doubt that Guantanamo is illegal, is an exercise in hypocrisy, a PR disaster and should have been closed long ago.

How can anyone believe in the moral integrity of a government that so blatantly evades its own laws, holding detainees in legal limbo offshore because to do so on US soil would bring the entire weight of American justice down on its head?

Because it does not know what to do with the 380 detainees, the White House trots out the line that they are prisoners of war and as such can be held until the war is over. That argument works in the classic situation where there are states at war against each other and where at the end of the fighting there is a settlement. But the war against terrorism is not going to end with negotiations and treaties. Neither is it going to end in the foreseeable future — which means, given the Bush argument, that the prisoners are going to spend forever in detention. No wonder some see suicide as the only way out.

As a temporary holding center in the immediate aftermath of the Afghan invasion, it was just about acceptable. But not six years on. If the US authorities have not managed to extract all the information available by now it is either because they are incompetent or there is no more to be had.

The detainees should be either sent home for processing or charged with supporting terrorism. In case of the latter, if existing US laws are not fit for purpose, then the White House should move to change them; if Congress does not agree, then the Republicans will at least have a handy weapon with which to attack the Democrats in next year’s presidential elections.

The most potent argument for closing Guantanamo is that it does not make the US safe. By bearing witness to President Bush’s willingness to sidestep the law, it fuels hatred, particularly among young alienated Muslims around the world who see in it tangible proof of a perceived oppression.

It is a veritable recruiting sergeant for Al-Qaeda. For that reason alone it should be closed.