Guantanamo Bay is one the most highly debated or controversial places in the United States. Guantanamo Bay is a federal detention center located in Cuba used to detain terrorists. This center was built following 9/11 as part of the United States’ efforts in the “War on Terror”. Since it was opened in 2002 there have been almost 800 people detained here.
So why Cuba? Because the center is in Cuba, prisoners there are not protected under the United States Constitution. Recently in 2020 the US Appeals Court of the District of Columbia heard of a case of a man who argued for his release from Guantanamo Bay, claiming evidence against him was not substantial and was flawed. The federal court released an important ruling saying, “The Due Process Clause may not be invoked by aliens without property or presence in the sovereign territory of the United States”. This is the first time it has been clearly laid out that those in Guantanamo Bay do not have the right to due process. This means the people being held there do not need to undergo any formal trial or be officially charged with any crimes.
There are several issues with Guantanamo Bay. One issue is that there have been several prisoners held there for years having never been charged with a crime. 11 prisoners have been held in Guantanamo Bay for up to 16 years simply for being suspicious. Another issue with this prison is that even if detainees in Guantanamo Bay are cleared for transfer it can take years before they are actually released. A lot of this is due to difficulties finding a place to send these people as many countries will not accept them. Additionally, Guantanamo Bay is the most expensive prison in the world. It costs $13 million per prisoner per year. This is due to several reasons including the guard to prisoner ratio which is 45:1 and the fact that everything must be imported into Cuba.
While these are all important issues, I believe the main issue is the way people have reported being treated at Guantanamo Bay. *Just as a warning the following paragraphs may contain some details of abuse or torture* Many prisoners have reported mistreatment, poor conditions, and torture including one prisoner, Mohamedou Slahi, who was there for 14 years without trial or charge. When he returned to his home in Mauritania, he wrote a book called, “Guantanamo Diary” which was later adapted into a movie called “The Mauritanian”.
There have been several horrific accounts of torture at Guantanamo Bay. Another report of torture at Guantanamo Bay was reported on by the New York Times. The man spent 3 years in Guantanamo Bay and detailed many experiences including, forced feeding, waterboarding, and other examples of physical and sexual abuse. He said that when he refused to eat he was fed a puree through his anus. He also said that when others would refuse to drink they would shoot water up their rectum. At times he said he was chained up in such an uncomfortable ways that he became so sleep deprived that he experienced hallucinations. This is just some of the abuse one man experienced, and surely is not the only instance of this kind of treatment.
Because of the accusations of mistreatment and torture, many organizations and groups have criticized the United States including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United Nations, and the European Union. However, the United States government denies all of these accusations.
While the people in Guantanamo Bay are accused of terrible acts including terrorism, they are still people. Torturing and abusing people in the ways the United States government has done is not acceptable. These individuals are people and should not be denied basic human rights. The way the United States has created a loophole to commit torture and not give people a fair trial by having their prison in Cuba is wrong. While the courts have ruled that the United States constitution does not cover these people because they are not on US soil and not US citizens, it is still not okay. The treatment being done here still violates international law and treaties signed by the United States. While the terrorists have committed terrible acts, many people would also consider torture including waterboarding and other acts as just as terrible. We have to consider how far we are willing to go to prevent terrorism.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/2021/08/7-things-for-students-to-know-about-guantanamo-bay/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/politics/guantanamo-detainees-due-process.html?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/us/politics/guantanamo-detainees-due-process.html?
This is such an interesting topic. I had heard of Guantanamo Bay before, however I knew very little about what it entailed. My initial reaction is that this is an awful place that denies people any kind of human rights. I think it is so messed up that the people of our country can detain people and toruture them and hold them indefinitely. However, I am wondering why this is still continuing, why has no president or other leader shut this down? In an article by the American Civil Liberties Union, they state that we’ve seen “three presidents pledge to close the prison without following through on that promise” (“20 Years Later). On this note, the article also states, “President George W. Bush transferred over 500 prisoners out of Guantanamo. President Barack Obama transferred approximately 200 men, and he said he would shut the prison down, but failed. President Doanl Trump reversed course and kept the prison open. Now it’s up to President Joe Biden to fulfill his pledge to finally close Guantanamo” (“20 Years Later”).
Honestly, as I read this my brain just continues to spin because it confuses me so much on how this is a possible place and how it has not been shut down. How is it that, as a country, we deny people any basic rights and refuse to grant them with the Due Process of the law? Why do we think it is okay to detain and torture people for years, even if they are not guilt? I understand the desire and the importance of national security, but couldn’t this be achieved in lawful and fair ways that do not involve torture? Additionally, if the immorality of the situation is not enough of a reason to shut down the prison, what about the cost? You mentioned that it costs $13 million per prisoner per year, which is just absolutely absurd. In comparison, the total cost per inmate in America averages to be about $33,274 per year (“The Price of Prisons”). While this is still a large number, it is exponentially less than the annual price for an inmate in Guantanamo.
This blows my mind, but I find it so interesting and I’m glad I was able to learn some more about it from you post, but now I will probably obsess about it lol.
Sources
“20 Years Later, Guantánamo Remains a Disgraceful Stain on Our Nation .” American Civil Liberties Union, 11 Jan. 2022, http://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/20-years-later-guantanamo-remains-a-disgraceful-stain-on-our-nation-it-needs-to-end.
“The Price of Prisons – the Price of Prisons – Prison Spending in 2015.” Vera Institute of Justice, http://www.vera.org/publications/price-of-prisons-2015-state-spending-trends/price-of-prisons-2015-state-spending-trends/price-of-prisons-2015-state-spending-trends-prison-spending.
Abby, I’m right there with you! The name “Guantanamo Bay” had rung a (very rusty) bell in my mind, but the specifics eluded me as they did for you. I guess I was too hung up on the fact of its existence that I did not get to the point where I thought about why it was still here. While it’s true that we cannot change the past, we can take steps now and do what we can to make the world a better place. I’m shocked that our presidents have failed us in such a way. Now, I’m curious if President Biden will do anything about it.
This was a super interesting and insightful civic issue post. I’m embarrassed I only knew about Guantanamo Bay from a TV show and thought it was a thing of the past. I didn’t know a lot of the torturous things still happen today. It is such an obvious violation of human rights and goes against everything I believe America stands for. Even though I know it was meant to keep terrorists, the United States shouldn’t revert to unethical methods.
I was surprised when I started researching the potential closing of Guantanamo Bay. I expected there to be a lot of public support to close the detention center, but there was still significant support for keeping it open. As Abby said, Obama tried to close it and was able to transfer 200 men out. Although, he faced a lot of opposition, specifically from the Republican party, to ‘keep America safe.’ Despite the stories like Omar Deghayes, who was wrongly held for a crime he didn’t commit, according to NPR, 56% of the public was opposed to shutting it down.
General Kelly paints the picture that the detainees are the ones with power and the guards are helpless. The detainees tried to provoke the guards by throwing feces at them because they knew that the guards cannot retaliate. However, this directly goes against the main concept of a jail where the guards can go home after work and the detainees have to stay in the cell. It also contradicts the power dynamic described by the released detainees.
An interesting point of view from the NPR article was from Lee Wolosky, who was a U.S. Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure. He said that when he visited, the facilities were much nicer than he thought they would be and maybe even nicer than some state facilities. However, he wanted to close it for what it stands for because the world will never forget the horror stories from that facility.
I am skeptical of Lee Wolosky and even more skeptical of General Kelly’s depiction of Guantanamo Bay. Even if their stories are true, I stand behind the idea that it should be closed just on the basis of its past history. The US perpetrated some of the worst torture tactics there and those unethical tactics should have no place in America. I also believe the US should acknowledge the wrongdoings publicly when shutting down Guantanamo Bay and apologize to those who suffered. It won’t fix what the US did, but it will be a step in the right direction.
https://www.npr.org/2016/03/06/469370724/the-case-for-closing-and-keeping-open-guantanamo
I agree with everything you said. I think it is crazy to see that there has been little public discussion on Guantanamo Bay, or even about the facility at all. It is such an ugly part of our country that I think the majority of us don’t stand for. Additionally, I hope that they close it soon and I think that it would be really beneficial if the government apologized and acknowledge the pain and suffering they caused. I really hope that soon, as a country, we can band together and put an end to Guantanamo Bay.
Hello once more, Macy! As your second and final main Civic Issue blog post, I think this was a cleverly powerful way for you to conclude. I have a feeling that this injustice will stick with me long after I’ve written this civic issue comment, and moreover, long after this course has ended. I swear, just getting to read through all of these potent and peer-written mini-articles on issues that have been carefully selected and well-researched has been such a unique treat. Where else would I be able to easily read such content?
But enough of my rambling; let’s move on to the crux of this comment.
According to the university source linked below, this all came about when the United States decided to invade Cuba (which was then a Spanish colony) during the late 1890s. Our country was only able to establish a permanent military base there due to the Spanish-American war. Although Guantanamo has served many purposes (including but not limited to a ship repair point and a hurricane relief facilitation center), we recognize its notoriously current use as “an incarceration center for suspected terrorists” – just as you acknowledged and deftly scrutinized in your post.
Before reading your blog post, I probably would not have minded that much, being that I knew quite little about Guantanamo Bay to begin with. Now, though, a specific word in that quoted phrase above bothered me immediately: “suspected.” If someone thinks you’re plain old suspicious, is that enough of a reason for them to condemn you to years or even decades of prison? And, naturally, it’s not just any prison, either: it’s infamous for its inhumane treatment of prisoners, to the point where one has to wonder whether or not the prison keepers even view their captors as human any more. What kind of people, I wonder, find this sort of job suitable? What kind of people allow/make these jobs available and are okay with that? What kind of people are fine playing god?
Dang, I never talked about anything like this in high school, so this was my first real exposure to such a thing. I have a history buff friend, so I will definitely have to ask her about it to get further details on Guantanamo Bay. Thank you for crafting an exquisitely eye-opening civic issue blog post, Macy!
https://origins.osu.edu/review/guantanamo-beginners#:~:text=The%20opportunity%20to%20create%20such,permanent%20military%20base%20at%20Guantanamo.