Guantanamo: A Complicated Issue Guantanamo Naval Prison

Guantanamo: A Complicated Issue

Guantanamo

Naval prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been a controversial topic among American citizens and politicians ever since information surfaced about detainees being held indefinitely without charge and possibly tortured while incarcerated there. President Obama made it a key issue in his 2008 campaign, vowing to close it when he became president. He seemed to be making good on his promise in December of 2009, when he signed an Executive Order demanding the transfer of remaining prisoners to other facilities or to foreign countries and the permanent closure of the prison camp. But as of 2012, the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay remains open.

There are several difficult issues that complicate Obama's ability to close "Gitmo," as it is sometimes called. Guantanamo does not have a good reputation among Americans, and it has an even worse reputation in other countries. One of the primary reasons for the general distrust of Guantanamo Bay is that many of the prisoners are detained there for questionable reasons, or maybe no reason at all. A 2006 report by the Center for Constitutional Rights quotes an active duty American interrogator as saying that "there are a large number of people at Guantanamo who shouldn't be there." However, because many of these detainees are from foreign countries and are labeled as "enemy combatants," they have no right to legal counsel and under current law can be held indefinitely without charge. This is problematic on many levels. The right to habeas corpus is a fundamental Constitutional right in the United States, and any American institution that doesn't respect that right, even for foreign nationals, leads to suspicion and distrust.

An even bigger issue is the question of the interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo Bay. The CCR report lists a number of terrible methods used at Guantanamo to gather information from detainees, including: sleep deprivation, prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures, beatings, sexual harassment and rape, refusal of medical treatment for serious injuries, and "short-shackling" (where prisoners' wrists are bound to their ankles). Any of these methods would be considered cruel and unusual punishment in the U.S. justice system, and many of them would be considered torture. When these techniques are combined with the fact that many of these prisoners are held wrongfully with no way to plead their case, the entire existence of Guantanamo seems to be against everything that America stands for in terms of human rights.

In addition to being a controversial topic in America, Guantanamo Bay and the practices used there have significantly damaged the U.S. reputation among other countries, both friendly and hostile. This is particularly dangerous in enemy countries, where detainees who are released return with tales of mistreatment and incite anger among those who are already distrustful of the U.S. Among our own allies, it undermines our standing as a protector of civil liberties. As Irene Khan (2005), the Secretary General of Amnesty International, points out, "by lowering the human rights standard, the U.S. has weakened its own moral authority to speak out on human rights."

Despite these moral, legal, and political reasons for closing Guantanamo, President Obama has been unable to. One problem is that there is nowhere to transfer many of the prisoners. Americans are resistant to moving them into the U.S., and other countries do not want to take them. Added to this, Congress has refused to authorize to fund the transfer of detainees (BBC News).