Essay on Guantanamo Bay: The Thorn in America’s Side

66% Americans want to keep Guantanamo open but 29 % think it should be closed therefore there's 5% with no opinions. Since 2009 President obama has been attempting to shut down Guantanamo Bay but he doesn't have the support of the people or his party. which makes it harder to shut it down. Even though some people believe the best way to ensure protection against terrorist is to keep this facility opened, Guantanamo Bay should be closed because prisoners are degraded and abused and it`s to expensive to keep it active.Even though some people believe the best way to ensure protection against terrorist is to keep this facility opened , Guantanamo Bay should be closed because prisoners are degraded and abused and it’s to expensive to keep it active.

Located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Guantanamo prison is a United States military prison established in January 2002. The prison’s uses include, but are not limited to: the holding of extremely dangerous individuals, interrogation of the detainees and prosecution for their crimes. In the article “Guantanamo Prison Is Wasteful and Un-American. Shut It Down,” published in The Washington Post on January 15, 2015, noted Democrat who represents California’s 14th District in the House, Jackie Speier, expresses why the prison should be shut down. She argues that the prison is a huge waste of taxpayer’s dollars and claims that the prison makes us less safe and runs contrary to our values as Americans. With the effective establishment of authority

Guantanamo Bay prison camp is a United States military Prison in cuba in which we keep our most lethal and dangerous terrorist at. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said “ the prison camp was established to detain extraordinarily dangerous people to interrogate detainees in an optimal setting and to prosecute detainees for war” (Rumsfeld, 2002). Also this topic is one of the most where the president of the United States and congress disagree on. The President want to close Guantanamo Bay because he think the prison is unnecessary and expensive and it serve a recruitment tool to American terrorist but congress still isn’t and still won't let him. Congress said the main reason why they don’t want

On March 19, 60 Minutes aired the interview of Holly Williams, a news correspondent with Mohamedou Slahi, an author and ex-prisoner at Guantanamo prison. He explained his personal “enhanced interrogation” program that was approved by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Specifically he claimed that “he was interrogated for 70 straight days, almost around the clock.” Throughout the 70 days he experienced complete isolation in “the fridge”(small holding cell that is cold), two hours of sleep, and much more inhumane acts. As the interviewee said, “they broke me. I told the captain, that the boss of my team” even though that information was false. Slahi was merely protecting himself from any more cruel and unusual punishments. Although some people believe that Slahi’s book can be humorous, Slahi insists that the now illegal form of interrogation or torture is an invalid way to gain information. All things consider Slahi states, that torture works “giving false confessions” but doesn't work with “giving good intelligence.” In sum,

The Supreme Court ruled that if someone is detained by the American government, then they are entitled to basic constitutional rights, which does not allow the detainment of a person before bringing them before a court or a judge. Since this injustice is taking place in Guantanamo, innocent men are being placed there. Everyone being taken to GTMO is also protected from cruel and unusual punishment regardless of what they have been accused of. Therefore, the CIA’s use of various torture methods and brutal interrogations are not acceptable by law. Lakhdar Boumediene was one of many men who were taken away from their family and punished for a crime they did not commit. He will forever be affected by the seven years of mental and physical abuse that he endured at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. After 14 years, why is the U.S. still forcing faultless men to go to a place that makes them want to end their

Guantanamo Bay is a United States military prison located in Cuba. It has been considered one of the “top priorities for normalization.” (Brodzins and Watts). Guantanamo was first established in 1898 at the end of the Spanish American War. Guantanamo continued to remain after the Cuban Revolution. There have been rumors of torture at Guantanamo Bay. An interview took place written by CBS news having Col. Patrick Harris, head of human intelligence gathering at the Pentagon’s Defense center talk about Guantanamo Bay. “Yeah,” says Lang. “I think its torture.” Sgt. Erik Saar, a solider who worked in the interrogation rooms at Guantanamo Bay was also interviewed. He spoke about the amount he believes are really terrorists. “At best I’d say a few dozen,” says Saar. “A few dozen [out of 600].” Saar also talks about how the interrogators treat the prisoners during interrogation. “She wanted to create a barrier between this detainee and his faith, and if she could somehow sexually entice him, he would feel unclean in an Islamic way, he would not be able to pray and go before his God and gain that strength, so the next day, maybe he would be able to start cooperating, start talking to her.”(Leung). Even though many rumors of torture exist, but the Embassy of the United States claims that "Categorically that any maltreatment of any detainees by U.S. Forces or Coalition forces is

The creation of Guantanamo Bay served the multiple purposes to detain suspected terrorist, to collect probable Intelligence, and to protect citizens from possible further terrorist attacks perpetrated by the detained individuals. The creation of the GTMO detention facilities were born out a perceived necessity to strengthen the United States’ national security after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. However, throughout Guantanamo Bay’s duration as a strategic level detention facility GTMO has fallen under vast amounts of criticism levied from all corners of the world. With the imminent closure of the detention centers at Guantanamo Bay, the closure underlines the bigger issue that a legal alternative

The prison later became a focus of not only a controversy in the United States that spread worldwide about how the detainees were being tortured while they were being held at Guantanamo. The violation was that the people there were being abused and tortured and this was against the legal rights of the detains under the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention is a law that was created in war time to help protect soldier back in World War II who were ship wrecked, wounded, or sick soldiers during war times. (Staff, 2007) But

Under the Bush Administration, beginning with the election of President Bush in 2000 and running until early 2009, Guantanamo Bay was filled with suspected 9/11 terrorists from the Taliban and al Qaeda due to the relatively recent outbreak of the war on terror. Large steps were taken by the Bush Administration toward near guarantees of containing those responsible for the War, which can be summed up in a human rights article by Martin Flaherty, “[…] the Bush Administration adopted what it asserted were three ‘necessary and appropriate’ means that would serve as principal ways to pursue the ‘Global War on Terror,’” (36). These three means were indefinite detention, harsh interrogation methods, and military trials. Focusing on military trials,

As seen in the case of Guantanamo Bay, Frontline, a television series that produces documentaries of various kinds, recently gathered a group of top thinkers to discuss whether or not torture is justifiable. Oren Gross, one of the men in the roundtable discussion mentioned, “first is that, in my opinion, to deny the use of water preventive interrogational torture in such circumstances may be as cold hearted and immoral as it is to permit torture in the first place” (PBS). Some people even believe that torture techniques may force the prisoners to share information but it may not always be the reliable truth, as they are simply looking to be freed. In following and sticking to the ideal American values and way of life, Gross strongly believes that severe interrogation inflicted on others is not the way that we as Americans should exemplify who we are and what we stand

The first pro to examine when considering if Guantanamo Bay should remain open is the valuable intelligence that interrogators gain from the detainees. Guantanamo houses high-value detainees, like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the September 11 attacks. Mohammed has a mechanical engineering degree from North Carolina A&T University. There is a long list of successful and failed terrorist plots associated with Mohammad

Guantanamo bay detention camp is one of the most controversial topic in the area of international law. From its inception in 1934, when it’s 45 square miles of land was leased to the USA by Cuba for building a naval station, it has come a long way to become an epitome of torture, cruel and degrading punishments and various other human rights violation. The Guantanamo bay came into worldwide speculation when it detained more than 700 people, almost all Muslims, from Afghanistan and Pakistan, suspected of terrorist activities or association with a terrorist organization. This was in context to the 9/11 attacks when the Bush government declared a ‘War on Terror’. For over a decade under the administration

“For the moment, the effect of the court's ruling on the detention and interrogation operations at Guantánamo is likely to be as political as it is practical” (Golden, 2006). The detainees in Guantanamo Bay had been protesting and committing suicide in the weeks before the decision was announced, and Guantanamo officials thought this case would be the one to majorly impact the proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, initiate legal proceedings for those in custody, repatriate some and relocate the rest of the detainees (Golden, 2006). Ultimately, this has not happened yet. A Pentagon spokesperson quoted in this article uses political fear to argue why Guantanamo Bay should be left open. “‘These are dangerous people. Many have vowed to go back to the battlefield if released. It enables us to thwart future attacks’” (Golden, 2006). Here, an elite is using the idea of fear to isolate a group of people, mark them as a dangerous adversary, and then claim they need to be detained for the public good. This is a clear example of the way political fear has motivated these

In January 11, 2002, Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) was opened as a prison camp at the Naval Military Base in Cuba to detain terrorist suspects during the Bush Administration. Since President Obama took office in 2008, continued operations of the prison camp has been largely debated between both the Obama Administration and Congress (“Barrack”). Currently, there are 91 remaining detainees housed at Gitmo. President Obama, in his 2016 State of the Union address, stated that he will continue to work towards closing the prison because, “...it’s expensive, unnecessary, and serves as a recruitment tool for American enemies.” Members of Congress, on the other hand, rejected President Obama’s plan to close the facility because his plan includes integrating a number of high risk detainees into our U.S. Federal prisons which threatens the safety of the American people. The war on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has developed over the last several years while our military base has been reduced (“2014 Trending”). Closing the prison camp will only send a message to our enemies that the U.S. is, once again, retracting efforts to end the war. Gitmo should remain open as long as the war on ISIS exists and it should continue to serve as a prison camp to terrorist groups but, the prison should be reformed from its reputation of torturing detainees and serve primarily as a prison to house those who are a threat to our United Sates citizens. As of now, the plan to transfer the 91

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is originally a naval base that was once used to house detention facilities for Haitian and Cuban refugees fleeing to the United States. It was also used as a refueling station for Navy ships. It was then converted into a high level detention facility to house enemy troops captured in the War on Terror campaign by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfield. It has three main camps that house the prisoners. These prisoners of war were later referred to as enemy combatants. They were excluded from the prisoner of war statutes of the Geneva Convention because of their involvement in a foreign terrorist organization and therefore earning themselves the title of terrorists. The Guantanamo Bay Detention Center served as the perfect location to send these terrorists. It allowed the United States to strip them of any due process or protection that is provided by US law. Due to its location, being in foreign territory they are only subjected to military law. They are close enough for them to be monitored without interference of intentional agencies or international oversight. Furthermore, the US Government is holding these men without due process because they are deemed too dangerous to be released into the public because of their associations with terrorist organizations and possession of valuable information relating to National Security such as location of key members of a terrorist groups, whereabouts. However, the United States cannot release those