Guantanamo Bay: history and significance

Guantanamo Bay is located at the southern eastern end of Cuba; to be precise it is a bay which lies in the Guantanamo province of Cuba. This Bay is the largest harbor in Cuba on the south side of the island. In the year 1903, a treaty by the name Cuban-American treaty was signed under which the Americans took control of this Bay, in other words the U.S. took over the lease of the place. There are differences at this moment; the Cuban government considers the U.S. To have illegally occupied the land. This paper will throw light upon the Guantanamo Bay, a comprehensive analysis of the current situation will be provided.

detention camp at Guantanamo Bay has come under intense scrutiny since it began to receive foreign detainees in early 2002. The U.S. has faced frequent attacks for holding inmates without trial and for their alleged mistreatment." (Guantanamo Bay, 8 December 2008). The United Nations has also got involved in the issue now and they have demanded for the immediate closure of this camp. The same has been strongly opposed by the U.S. government and they have put forward that the inmates are treated very humanely in these camps and hence denying all the allegations made against the U.S. The camp was originally established to keep the suspected terrorists of Afghanistan.

Pentagon officials insist the U.S. is entitled them to hold "enemy combatants" - who do not enjoy the rights of prisoners of war or U.S. citizens accused of crimes - without charges or trial for the duration of hostilities. (Guantanamo Bay, 8 December 2008).

The United nations have proofs of torture in these camps and hence they demand an immediate action by the U.S. The UN claim that the torture in these camps have reaches another level, the inmates are exposed to extreme temperatures and are fed through nasal tubes, the inmates are also exposed to extreme conditions produced by light and sound. The UN also claims that the prisoners have had mental break downs many a time and they are also denied the facility of contacting an outsider, this means that they can't even hire a lawyer for their rescue. AU.S. soldier was reported to have flushed the Koran, the holy book of Muslims in the toilet, this sparked off a protest but the same got wavered and nothing came out of it. The U.S. soldiers slam the heads of the prisoners against the cell; many more unimaginable things are done by the U.S. soldiers' day in and day out. "The U.S. says interrogations are yielding useful intelligence, including some from inmates who have been detained for up to two years." (Guantanamo Bay, 8 December 2008).