The Response Film Analysis

I attended a production of The 39 Steps. The two act play was an adaptive parody piece derived from the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie based on the John Buchan novel; originally conceptualized by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, it was then adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow. Additionally, it paid homage to Alfred Hitchcock, in that the play seems to include a representation of almost every famous scene from a Hitchcock film. Eric Harrell, the Producing Artistic Director, described the play during his introduction as, “Alfred Hitchcock meets a spy novel meets Carol Burnette.” After viewing the play, I would agree that that is a fairly accurate assessment of the over-all tone of the production; however, I would have substituted Monty Python

The detention camp has been classified as a human rights violation due to the unjust and torturous treatment of inmates by the guards and employees during interrogation sessions. Methods that infringe basic human rights include force-feeding hunger strikes, sensory; sleep deprivation, sexual assault, and lack of privacy, torture, speech and waterboarding. Inmates were recognized as ‘enemy combatants’ with no particular evidence. Moreover they were left in small cells of wire mesh, which were no larger than a few square meters, and they did not have the freedom to practice their faith. Force-feeding inmates whilst on hunger strikes, again violated article 3 of the Geneva conventions, and has been recognized by the international committee of

Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al. could prove the undoing of the Bush administration’s legal defense of the abuses at Guantanamo Bay. In this case, four British citizens are suing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as a host of Army and Air Force Generals and policy apparatchiks for allegedly authorizing the use of torture in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The four were captured in Afghanistan, either by Americans or America’s ally, the Northern Alliance, and transported to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where they were held for over two years. Their status there was not as enemy combatant, which guaranteed them certain protections under the Geneva Convention, but rather as

Did you know, as American taxpayers, maintaining the prison at Guantánamo has costed $4.8 billion since it had opened in 2002? Well this al back to “ The Global War on Terror” under the Bush administration that,. response to the 9/11 attacks, targeted middle eastern regions of the world;, collecting men from left to right by heavily armed American soldiers. Unfortunately, some of them are destined to pay for another man’s crime by serving time in Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo Bay, located within a naval base in Cuba, became a facility purposed to hold alleged enemy combatants and terrorists alike. Because of later documented injustices reported against detainees, it gained negative spotlight by both citizens and world leaders. When Obama succeeded in presidency, closing the facility became one of his priorities for a number of reasons.

The United States Government has no problem with getting out on technicalities. Thus it is not surprising that we have the same human rights problems now that we did during the Salem Witch Trials. In Guantanamo Bay, people accused of terrorism are held without conviction for as long as 15 years. The United States Government is allowed to do this without charging the accused because it is not United States territory. Although this may not be morally correct, it certainly serves the purpose of getting people to confess, and holding people that are believed to be a threat to this country. There are plenty of similarities in due process shared between Guantanamo Bay and Salem, Massachusetts.

During the BBC documentary, that shed light to what truly takes place behind the walls of the facility, an American citizen’s heartfelt message to President Obama to continue with the commission hearing to seek justice she stated “you must purse justice for the 3000 victims of September 11th and I ask this in my son Justin’s memory”(Portillo). Justin’s mother’s heartfelt outcry, shown in the documentary, to the President and to the United States government that justice has still not been reached for the deceased or their loved ones. This is a reminder to those that even for a second consider closing this facility that these three thousand people that lost their lives not only were robbed of the opportunity to live fulfilled lives, but also to take part in the lives of their loved ones. The pain that the nation went through during this time has ran deep throughout the nations core and this pain has been reflected in countless efforts to avenge the death of the ones lost during this attack and to prevent others like it. If we were to take the approach of releasing the prisoners we would not only be releasing criminals back into the worlds’ society, but we would also be neglecting the feelings of many Americans.

The case is about detention of a citizen from the United States of America unlawfully without being charged or tried. The issue in the case is whether the military officials violate the law through such conducting such a detention unless the Congress authorizes them to do so. Jose Padilla, an American, returned from Pakistan in 2002 when he was later arrested in O’Hare International Airport in Chicago (Ann, 2004). At first, he was detained as a witness during the investigation that the government conducted in the al Qaeda network. However, his detention was followed by a declaration that he was an ‘enemy combatant.’ The Defense Department of Chicago, by declaring him so implied that he could now be taken to prison without accessing an attorney or even the courts. The main reason why he was arrested was that the FBI suspected that his return to the United States of America was to continue carrying out criminal acts in the country.

On 26 September 2002, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who born in Syria, was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport while he was waiting for his flight . Mr. Arar was held in solitary confinement without any charges by United States authorities for two weeks without having access to a lawyer. The United States government suspected him of being a member of Al-Qaeda and deported him back directly not to Canada, but to his country of birth Syria, where he was tortured . Arar was held in Syria for nearly a year, during that time he was tortured, until he return to Canada. The Syrian government later admitted that Arar was not involved in anything and he was “completely innocent ”. There are too many questions that need to be answered,

What happens when they apprehend and torture an innocent man? Stripping him out of his life and leaving his children fatherless, leaving him heartless. If one were taken from their family, covered by a black hood, only to wake up in a dark room with a couple of strangers yelling at them, beating them, asking odd questions they can’t answer because they had no part in the incidences they are mentioning. How would one feel after the first hour? The first day? The first year? How about 2 years? That’s how long former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Moazzam Begg, was in Guantanamo. Begg was released with no charge due to lack of evidence in 2005. On July 12, 2004, Begg sent a letter addressed to the U.S. Forces Administration at Guantánamo Bay. Its full text was given to his lawyer, Gareth pierce. In his letter Begg says, "I am a law-abiding citizen of the UK, and attest vehemently to my innocence, before God and the law, of any crime — though none has even been alleged". In February, 2002 Beg was apprehended in, Islamabad, Pakistan by Pakistani police. In suspicion of having links with terrorist groups such as the Taliban. He was sent to The Guantanamo Bay detention camp also known as, GTMO. When initially detained he was treated as a prisoner of war, that is until he was determined by a “competent tribunal” as an unlawful combatant. Article 5 of the Third Geneva

The torture of captured suspects is contrarian to the values of the American legal system because generally captured suspects are supposed to entitled to due process, according to Amendment V of the United States Constitution: “no person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” Guantanamo Bay”. Terrorist which are held captive by the American government are presumed guilty but are not being given a fair chance to seek representation in a court of law or have fall range access to their attorneys once they find themselves in a conflict. In my opinion, terrorists should have the opportunity to have their cases reviewed and be given a fighting chance instead of being held for an indefinite amount of time without due process or trial. The U.S

Guantanamo Bay, though started with good intentions, only highlights America’s negative side. Marine Major General Michael Lehnert, who played a significant role in the opening of Guantanamo, has drastically changed his opinion and said that it, “Validates every negative perception of the U.S.” (Sutton 1). One example of this occurred in 2006, when President Bush justified the use of “physical coercion” (torture) during interrogations (Fetini 1). Some of these torture methods include isolation, beatings, sleep deprivation, and general abuse. Other tactics such as disrespect for Islamic symbols or sexual provocation are used to encourage stress in detainees (Bloche 1). These immoral methods led to an international outcry. It was later remarked that the Cuban territory upon which Guantanamo is located is being used as a “concentration camp” of sorts (Fetini 1). Guantanamo and its unethical values are being recognized by nations around the world, displaying America in a bad light.

In the United States, one of the major methods in obtaining crucial information has been through the use of Guantanamo Bay. While many have condemned of the torture that is believed to occur there, not only does Guantanamo Bay comply with national and international standards, but it also complies with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions (Meese 1) which states

In 1949, the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was created to prohibit immoral, cruel and degrading punishment toward prisoners during wartime. The United States ratified this covenant and became a member of the Geneva Conventions. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, a series of human abuses occurred from October through December of 2003 where American military personnel have conducted acts of brutality and immoral behavior toward Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison. The inhumane “interrogation method” of the American military have clearly violated Article 2 and 4 of the Geneva Conventions. Article 2.2 states “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state

The prisoners in guantanomo bay are about 450 from at least 43 different countries. The main reason behind the arrest is to find out if any one or groups of the suspected prisoners had anything to do with the September 11 attack. The Guantanamo bay is outside the US and it has a major difference between all the prisons in US. The difference is that the prison doesn't obey the UN declaration of human rights which is: right for free trial before being sentenced to prison, the right for everyone to be allowed any form of defence.g lawyers during the trial.

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