In a monumental step toward the closure of a dark chapter in U.S. history, the Biden administration took swift action on Monday, slashing the prisoner population at the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention center by nearly half. Eleven detainees, their lives trapped in the shadows of a facility that has long symbolized the weight of post-9/11 fear and secrecy, were released and sent to Oman, leaving the prison’s grim halls with just 15 souls remaining.

For nearly two decades, Guantanamo Bay stood as a fortress of suspicion and controversy, its cages holding those labeled as terrorism suspects and “illegal enemy combatants” in the wake of the September 11 attacks. It opened its doors on January 11, 2002, under President George W. Bush’s orders, a product of a nation shaken by the horrors of terror. But as the sands of time have shifted, so too has the world’s reckoning with the cost of that fight.

On the eve of his presidency’s end, Joe Biden made it clear that the time had come to close the door on this detention center. The transfer of these 11 men – all from Yemen – marks a poignant moment in a long-anticipated effort.

Among the detainees released were Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman, Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, Khalid Ahmed Qassim, and others whose names have echoed within these walls for years, far from their homes, forgotten by many but never fully erased from the world’s conscience.

At its peak in 2003, Guantanamo housed nearly 680 prisoners. Now, just 15 remain, a staggering decline that mirrors the growing urgency to dismantle this symbol of America’s extended war on terror.

In a statement, the U.S. military expressed gratitude to Oman and its partners, underscoring the significance of this transfer not only as a gesture of diplomacy but as a step toward a long-delayed reckoning: the closure of a facility that has held prisoners of war for far too long.

The question now is whether the slow, painful process of closing Guantanamo will be met with further resistance – or, perhaps, finally fade into the pages of history …

Agencies.