Here's a quiz: what country has sought to hold prisoners in lifetime detention due to a lack of evidence against them? If you had said the United States of America, you would have been right.
Reports indicate that both the Pentagon and the CIA have inquired about the possibility of extended holding of suspects in the "war on terror." The detentions would last an indefinite period of time, possibly 'life sentences' in some cases, despite the suspects never having been convicted of anything, or even having been given a trial.
Officials at the Department of Defense are seeking funding to expand the detainment facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to accommodate detainees who "are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal for lack of evidence."
The government's lack of evidence means that if the detainees did go through a hearing, they would likely be released. However, the government has a problem with this.
The argument could be made that those being held are potential threats to America; however, the lack of evidence against them clearly shows that the government is far from certain about the threat posed by them.
It is a fundamental tenet of justice that "the punishment should fit the crime." In this case, there is a punishment, but no crime. This runs afoul of some of the basic principles of this nation.
The fact that many of those being held are not U.S. citizens does not change the fact that this plan is a perversion of justice. Being from a foreign nation does not mean that these people are not entitled to some bit of justice and fair treatment. It is also quite possible for U.S. citizens to be detained and also subjected to this punishment.
The Defense Department also acknowledges that there is no real use to keeping these people in custody. The new facility would be used to house detainees who "have no more intelligence to share."
These people have done nothing wrong, and are no longer an intelligence asset to the country. Our government should not be seeking to detain these people for as long as it wants; this behavior is intolerable in the criminal court system, and it should not be tolerated in our military either.