"Our credibility is strained to begin with, but whatever is left is going to be sorely harmed if we continue to detain people after the rationale has expired," said Morris "Moe" Davis, a retired Air Force colonel who served two years as the chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions.http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-08-18/some-of-guantanamos-harde...

If the USG cared to avoid the scrutiny of what GITMO has become, but really believed these prisoners are a danger, they would just release them and have them killed quietly. That GITMO still exists leads me to think the scrutiny has utility for USG . It is a source of ill-will from "terrorists" and a day-to-day reminder that the USG can and does act with impunity.