A small step for justice Guantánamo has been a political disaster for the United States. The detention centre set up by the Bush Administration in the American naval base in south-east Cuba has become notorious for prolonged incarceration without trial, torture and a series of suicides and suicide attempts. For Barack Obama, who in January 2009 signed an order requiring the centre to be closed within a year, it is an acutely embarrassing legacy. The victim of the worst terrorist attack ever, America has, maddeningly, found itself pilloried for failing to meet international norms of civilised behaviour. The opening over the weekend of the trial by military tribunal in Guantánamo of the five men accused of the 9/11 atrocities will have added to the nation's discomfort. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who had previously boasted of being the ringleader, refused to answer the judge's questions. A second defendant had to be removed by force from his cell to the court, and his lawyer then had the gall to request that the other women there wear Islamic dress in order not to offend her client's religious sensibilities. Disruption of court proceedings through mockery appears to be the name of the game. Yet, whatever the embarrassment Guantánamo has caused the Americans, it is important not to forget the victims of 9/11 and their families. That the trial of the alleged perpetrators has at last opened at the base is a landmark in the protracted process of seeking justice for what happened in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on that terrible day. Open court proceedings and proper legal representation are the mark of a society which believes in the rule of law. The trial offers justice to the 2,976 people killed and those who mourn them. It should also dilute the stain which Guantánamo has left on America's recent history.