Maybe we ought to be asking what happened to Americans’ regard for life.

Rear Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of the detention camp at Guantnamo, said of the three men who committed suicide there, “They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.”

It’s hard to understand where he’s coming from.

Looking at the photos and government documents that begin to paint a vague picture of U.S. treatment of detainees in various facilities around the world makes me feel sick. So how could the prisoners living through treatment, the very thought of which makes me feel ill, not feel desperation themselves?

I have to wonder, does Rear Adm. Harris think of these men as human at all, or perhaps as something less than human? And if that’s the case, does it make it easier for him to authorize treatment that could not justifiably be carried out on a fellow human being?

The latest version of the U.S. Army field manual that dictates treatment of prisoners by our military personnel leaves out provisions mandated by the Geneva Conventions that protect international prisoners from cruel and inhuman treatment – things like water boarding and threat by dog.

The Pentagon has taken it upon itself to authorize far more expansive interrogation methods than the rest of the civilized world finds acceptable. Sen. McCain’s anti-torture amendment, heralded when it passed as a nod to human decency and a sign that the U.S. was finally moving toward playing by international rules, has been rendered moot because it dictates that our soldiers follow the rules laid out in the Army field manual – the very one which now omits the anti-cruelty provisions.

Furthermore, the claim that conditions at Guantnamo are justified by presidential authority to use whatever force is necessary to wipe out terrorism no longer passes the straight face test, because no one can say for sure that all or even most of the prisoners being held there are terrorists. Only 10 of the more than 450 men at Guantnamo have been charged with terrorism in front of a military tribunal. Scores of them have never officially been accused of having ties to al-Qaida or terrorist attacks on the U.S. at all. And yet, most of them can count on being held at the prison facility indefinitely – they face no trial and no prospect for release.

All this is coupled with a growing shroud of mystery surrounding U.S. handling of its captives. While secret prisons are no longer so secret and extraordinary rendition no longer seems so out of the ordinary, the whole situation reeks of the clandestine. The few hearings that have taken place have been in secret; even lawyers are routinely denied access to their clients. The rest of the world suspects U.S. involvement in transporting prisoners to far-off places where they may face treatment scarily similar to the very things we claim to be fighting to end.

The point is, we have no way of knowing how far military leadership will go with the current unlimited power it has been granted.

And that is where things must change. Donald Rumsfeld has proven that given an inch he’ll take the whole mile, and now we must rein him in. Bush said he wants to close Guantnamo, he just doesn’t know what to do with the bad guys. But waiting for a Supreme Court decision on how best to try the detainees is no excuse for subjecting them to inhuman treatment until that time comes.

The continued existence of the detainment center at Guantnamo Bay is not an excuse for the continued illegal actions we know to take place there (that’s like saying that the sale of drugs at a known crack house can continue until the building is torn down). As long as we hold detainees in our custody we must pledge never to exercise inhumane and internationally illegal methods against them.

In the meantime, we must begin the process of trying those we believe guilty of criminal activity and freeing those we cannot justify detaining without charge any longer. Congress can and should refuse to fund any program that violates the Geneva Conventions, and every American should demand a return to the rule of law. International experts agree that abhorrent conditions at Guantnamo are psychologically damaging enough that they expect more suicide attempts for as long as it remains open.

If the U.S. continues to operate the prison under the knowledge that conditions there cause people to kill themselves, then the real question becomes: what has happened to our regard for life?

Rachel L. Myers is field organizer of the Maine Civil Liberties Union in Portland.