2,628,000 Minutes

2,628,000 minutes,
2,628,000 moments so dear.
2,628,000 minutes
How do you measure, measure FIVE years?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In 2,628,000 minutes
How do you measure FIVE years in the life?

With all due apologies to Jonathon Larson, I thought of Seasons of Love today while reading about the detainees in Gitmo. The irony was so strong, it almost hurt.

Five years ago my niece was just an infant. Today I got my first thank you note from her for her Christmas gifts. When I opened the card, my whole face lit up and I smiled. Her handwriting and spelling were atrocious, but I can just picture her at my sister's dining room table trying so hard to write that card. That's how I measured five years today.

Five years. 1,825 days. 43,800 hours. 2,628,000 minutes.

"But of the 773 detainees who have spent time in Guantanamo, the government has released roughly half, most because they had no information and no role in any fighting. The majority were sent home after the evidence against each was formally reviewed at military hearings required in 2004 by the Supreme Court, which rejected the Bush administration's claim that it could detain foreign nationals indefinitely without such sessions.

Of the 393 prisoners who remain today, the military has determined that 85 pose so little threat, they should be transferred to their home countries. Officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because some evidence about the prisoners is classified, estimate that about 200 pose a danger to Americans."

To the probably 573 detainees that we sent Gitmo (those we've released and those who are still there, but pose no threat to the US) how do you give them back those 5 years?