By Matt Schofield. Kansas City Star Editorial Board columnist

The United States continues to violate the Geneva Conventions at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

That’s the verdict of a new report by a British group that’s been studying the detention center almost from its establishment as a terror prison. The report was a response to a Pentagon report saying the conventions were being met, though suggesting detainees be given more religious freedom and social interaction.

The British group, Reprieve is admittedly anti-Guantanamo. But they come to their aversion honestly:

Reprieve is a human rights and legal advocacy group and they’ve studied Guantanamo closely. They work to get people out of there. They work with released detainees.

Their report offers several very solid reasons why this nation shouldn’t continue to hold terror suspects on foreign soil.

In fact, this report is a strong case for moving Gitmo detainees to either Ft. Leavenworth or Michigan, the two potential replacement sites leaked by the Obama administration recently.

America has too much to lose by keeping Guantanamo open. Worldwide, it stands for much that the American ideal rejects. It stands against the rule of law, human rights, and individual freedoms. The most valuable asset in the American quiver worldwide has long been its standing, on moral high ground, as a beacon for freedom.

The report notes that prisoners of war can’t be held in close confinement, except where it is essential to their health. Detainees, under the code, must be “treated at least as favorably as the U.S. military personnel who are guarding them."

But Gitmo isn't set up as a classic POW camp as much as a criminal prison. The group states the very nature of Gitmo violates the conventions.

The conventions demand prisoners of faith be allowed “complete latitude in the exercise of their religious duties, including attendance at the service of their faith…”

But there is no group worship for many at Gitmo.

It adds, quoting the convention, “Prisoners of war shall be allowed to receive by post or by any other means individual parcels or collective shipments containing, in particular foodstuffs, clothing, medical supplies and articles of religious, educational or recreational character which may meet their needs.”

And that’s not happening at Gitmo.

And then it gets into physical and mental abuse, or torture. These are completely off limits regarding prisoners of war.

The report, while from a biased source, is right in many regards. Its answer to solving these problems include the “closure of close confinement camps 5, 6 and 7.”

I’ll go a step further, the solution is to close Guantanamo, period, just as President Obama’s executive order recommends on January 22.

Guantanamo is simply a problem. A huge part of that the United States still doesn’t really know who they’re detaining. Are they prisoners of war, as classified? Well, if they are, the Geneva Convention has to be observed.

But they’re not. The war cited isn’t a war, but a movement, a War on Terror.

The rest of the world doesn’t agree with the POW classification.

Of the more than 750 originally detained there, few were captured involved actively in actions against the U.S. How many were arrested on actual battlefields? Not many, as this war, the war on terror, doesn’t really have battlefields.

The fact is, they’re not prisoners of war, and this country has never really seen them as such. They’re criminals.

What the U.S. alleges in regards to these detainees is that they’ve committed crimes against America. Or that they intend to commit crimes against America.

The first group needs to be tried on American soil, for their crimes. We don’t need an extra-national prison. The Obama plan, for a single prison, complete with an inside the prison court setup, would be much more efficient.

The second classification, however, doesn’t work with any detention status. In the end, they’re the reason Gitmo exists. The United States wants to hold them, but has no evidence of crimes.

But Gitmo does too much damage to America’s standing in the world to justify keeping it open. It colors every action the U.S. takes, takes away any moral high ground the country might hope to occupy.

The answer for this group of about 100 deemed too dangerous to release, is that Congress has to pass laws allowing their detention. It’s a tricky area. There is no such thing as pro-active law enforcement. These men weren’t caught doing anything, or even planning to do anything.

Experts believe Congress can justify a new form of criminal law, however, in the interests of national security. That needs to be done.

Because, this report, and previous studies, and a good look at world opinion, show the damage to America’s global reputation makes closing Gitmo essential. We’ve got too much lose, especially in a global economy.

Close Gitmo and bring these prisoners back onto American soil.