As part of his "War on Terror", President George W. Bush opened detention camps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I think Gitmo was probably the worst responses to 9/11. First, it was ineffective. 731 of the 780 Gitmo detainees (93.7 percent) have been released on no charges with no trial. Secondly, the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques made the U.S. hypocritical in combating terrorism. Many of the detainees, like Mohamedou Ould Slahi, were detained indefinitely and were subjected to torture techniques like waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and force-feeding. Those tactics are similar to what terrorists would use and they can use America's hypocrisy to recruit new members. Lastly, the use of Guantanamo Bay has violated the civil rights of the detainees. The Constitution applies to everyone in regards to the U.S. court of law and the Supreme Court has voted in favor of detainees, ruling that they have the right to writ to habeas corpus and the right to due process. They have also struck down Combatant Status Review Tribunals and other military commissions for violating both U.S. and international law. What are your thoughts on Guantanamo Bay?
Sources:
https://www.bu.edu/today/2013/gitmo-the-legal-mess-behind-the-ethical-mess/
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2003/03-6696
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/09/world/guantanamo-bay-naval-station-fast-facts/index.html
In addition, Guantanamo also costs over $400 million dollars a year to maintain. While I do believe the prison should be closed, I still believe that we should keep the land and the military base. Cuba doesn't deserve it.
It's my opinion that any time that torture tactics are brought into the processes of obtaining information from terrorists (which, as previously stated, most of these detainees are not), it's sending the message that these tactics are acceptable in turn. That's not the impression, as our world becomes increasingly globalized, that the US wants to give about its military. While it would be naive to say that we should or could possibly eliminate violence (though the dream remains), these kind of atrocities have no place in the modern world.
Aside from the fact that keeping Gitmo open is unsustainable, I learned over the summer (I took a war crimes class where we went over this) that the torture used in Gitmo didn't really work with getting any useful information out of the detainees. Keeping Gitmo open literally isn't beneficial at all, and I completely agree with Jacqui in that by keeping it open and continuing to torture detainees, it does send the message that it's acceptable to do so (torture). Unfortunately, it looks as if Gitmo will remain open until there's both a Democrat in the WH and a Dem. majority in Congress.