What to do with our prisoners?

Conservatives have been using this question as a rationale for indefinite detention for a long time now, most recently in response to news that a very conservative, Bush-appointed judge has ordered the White House to release "forthwith" five Algerians who have been detained without charge in Guantanamo for about seven years.

It's a legitimate question--these prisoners won't necessarily be welcomed back into their home countries or anywhere else, particularly if the U.S. demands that they be placed under constant surveillance.

But it's also our monster to tame. And whether or not the men we arrested were terrorists in the first place, it's probably not the greatest idea in the world to wash our hands of people we abused by unceremoniously dumping them where they won't be welcomed by anybody... except, perhaps, by terrorists. The United States--where they can be monitored, but also guaranteed some minimum standard of living--might actually be the safest place for them.