After 15 years ...

... a majority of us think it is time that remaining prisoners at Guantanamo should either face trial or be released according to the pollster YouGov.

Our shameful off-shore prison still holds 61 men. Of these, 20 are known to have been cleared for released by U.S. government vetting processes; some were cleared as long ago as 2009. Andy Worthington reports the chronology of releases that have pared down the number of those held from 779 to the present dozens.

Worthington also points out that Bloomberg News (via Global Post) has established ...

as the U.S. draws down the prison population by transferring inmates to friendly nations, the cost of housing terrorism suspects at the detention facility in Cuba has climbed to about US$6 million per person, according to an analysis of Defense Department figures. That’s produced a politically convenient byproduct for an administration determined to close the site: sticker shock.

The per-inmate cost will only increase as Obama continues to transfer prisoners, as he did last week when 15 detainees were sent to the United Arab Emirates.

“The ballooning waste of taxpayer dollars to imprison people without charge or trial is one of the many good reasons why Guantanamo should be closed,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, which highlighted the prison’s cost.

When political, prudential and ethical appeals fail, it always helps to remind taxpayers of government waste.

Still, Guantanamo remains a partisan issue, one on which Republican panic outweighs widely stirring second thoughts: