How can any supporter of our troops be against closing Gitmo?

Over the centuries, our troops have fought and died to protect our freedoms. They have also fought and died to spread the idea of democracy and human rights to other nations. If we suddenly forfeit our principles so that we can catch a few alleged terrorists then we are reacting out of fear and not out of principle. What does that say about us? What does that say about what our troops fought for? What message does that send to the rest of the world? Other nations will think we're insincere and if we can ignore our own principles out of convenience, then so can they. In WWII, the reason the Germans treated our troops more humanely than the Russian POWs was because they knew we would do the same to their soldiers. Some will say, "That doesn't apply here. The terrorists don't have principles." But think ahead to the next war - say with China (and there will be another war in the future, there always is). If our soldiers bring up the Geneva Convention, the Chinese can come back with, "Remember Gitmo?"