User talk:Bethann9295

It Started With a Tent.

In November of 1991, the United States took a U.S. Military base stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and set up tents and barbed wire with hundreds of U.S. Soldiers to house Haitians fleeing from the military dictatorship. The Haitians were among the first to become detainees in the startup of Guantanamo. “When forced repatriation began in February 1992, the argument used by the George H. W. Bush administration presaged the 2004 argument before the Supreme Court by the George W. Bush administration: the detainees were not entitled to any U.S. rights because they were being held on territory under the sovereignty of Cuba.” (Franklin, 2005) So how did we go from a refugee camp to a prison? And now that it is a prison should we close it? Maybe with better direction and supervision we can build on what should be a well maintained prison.

The camp was declared Unconstitutional in 1993 by a U.S. District Court judge and ordered the camp closed. The detainees were not released but however this to lead uprisings. At the same time another camp was built again with tents and barbed wire, similar to the first camp to harbor the Cubans who were attempting to reach the United States. Both the Cubans and the Haitians began their uprising by committing suicide due to terrible conditions, others climbed over the barbed wire and down a forty foot cliff to swim one mile to Cuba. The uprising detainees were met with U.S. Soldiers in riot gear wielding bayonets.

On January 18, 1995 the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that the detainees at Guantanamo could be forcibly repatriated because Constitutional Rights “bind the government only when the refugees are at or within the borders of the United States”. (Franklin, 2005) This opened the doors for Camp X-ray to be created to house the captives in President George W. Bush’s “War on Terror”. Later on Camp X-ray would be known as Guantanamo Bay Prison. President Bush used Camp X-ray to hold anyone he suspected to be a “War on Terror” or a threat on the United States. The first captives to be housed in Camp X-ray traveled over 8,000 miles from Kandahar only to find their living quarters nothing but mere zoo like wire cages. The Defense Department labeled the new prisoners “unlawful combatants” so as to disregard their rights and not to be called “Prisoners of War”; POW’s would be protected under the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions would protect the detainees and not allow any types of inhuman interrogation, torture, malnutrition, or any other type of mistreatment, without consequences.

Due to the detainees being labeled “unlawful combatants” rumors of torture began to leak and photos had surfaced showing men in shackles, mittens, and covers over eyes, ears and mouths in the tropical heat. With this photo the Red Cross among other organizations began arguing for POW status. At this time X-ray housed more than 600 prisoners from 43 countries, 27 of these men had tried to commit suicide and only 10 of them had even been formally charged with a crime.

In 2005, the Defense Department had released five British citizens from Guantanamo to British custody. Britain’s prosecutors released all 5 of them the next day without charging them for any crimes after hearing their stories from behind the walls of Guantanamo Bay. The men described inhuman treatment, being repeatedly beaten, thrown in solitary confinement, violent interrogations, and sleep deprivation. They Britain’s attorney were to fall then they were severely beaten. Although his innocence was proven by British Intelligence at the time, one of the released men said he was interrogated into pressuring him to confessing that he was indeed one of the three men in a photo with Osama Bin Laden. With the Pentagon’s assurance that detainees were being treated fairly and humanly President George W. Bush continued his plight to keep the doors open. While the Geneva Convention, Britain’s attorney general Lord Peter Goldsmith, the U.N, Human rights groups and Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair all continued to urge the United States to close Guantanamo’s doors. Later George bush told German TV that he would “very much like to end Guantanamo”. (PBS, 2006) Even with all of the talks from the U.S., other countries and various rights groups the doors remained open.

“In 2002 Army Major General Geoffrey Miller, overseer of captives at Guantanamo, requested that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approve a number of “nondoctrinal” interrogation tactics, some of which he had already used on “unlawful combatants” at Guantanamo. These included hooding, physical contact like poking or grabbing, and 20-hour interrogations. Rumsfeld approved a list of 17 combatants, withdrew the list in January and approved a revised list of 24 combatants in April of 2003 for use only at Guantanamo. (Franklin 2005) Soon after a note was found in Rumsfeld’s handwriting stating that “I stand for eight to ten hours a day, why should the detainees be limited to four? Make this happen.” Rumsfeld took full accountability for his actions. In early 2006 Rumsfeld was asked to resign, and on November 1st, 2006 President George W. Bush defended him asking Rumsfeld to remain the Secretary of Defense through the remainder of Bush’s Presidential term. On November 6th, Rumsfeld wrote out his resignation which took effect on December 18th, 2006. He was replaced by Robert Gates.

Even after Rumsfeld resigned the abuse and mistreatment still remained. This time it was more than the just the detainees that were being abused. Army Private Brandon Neely “describes a chaotic time when soldiers lacked clear rules for dealing with detainees who were denied many basic comforts. He says the circumstances changed quickly once monitors from the International Committee of the Red Cross arrived. (Melia, 2009) In a different interview with another guard, Sean Baker described how he was sent to the hospital by fellow guards after being made to dress up in an orange jumpsuit and pretend he was one of the detainees to train other guards on how to interrogate detainees. This training drill was quite often used and quite often sent the pretend detainee to the hospital. Many of the soldiers being trained were still in their teens had no idea or detailed standard operating procedures given to them to begin with, and were hardly taught anything on the Geneva Conventions, for the humane treatment of prisoners of war. Neely had said, “That some of the guards learned the procedures on their own initiative”. Any other interviews from guards were rare and any journalist visits to Guantanamo were carefully directed and the guards were handpicked and prompted as to what was said to the press.

In October of 2008 U.S. District Judges began releasing some of the detainees due to they feared that the detainees would continue to be tortured. The appeals court stated that only the executive branch, not the courts, can make decisions about the immigration. (Apuzzo, 2009)

In 2008, President Elect Barack Obama proposed to shut down Guantanamo Bay Prison. His reported plan applies only to the minority of detainees at the base who face domestic criminal charges according to the Bush Administration figures. The U.S. has brought charges against roughly 20 of these 80 men and has completed only two full trials by military commission. Obama has rejected Obama has rejected these commissions, and his transition team is reportedly considering using standard criminal trials for some defendants, and a new, special “national security” court for others. (Landau, 2008) It is not clear by the Government what will happen to any of these 255 men, 60 of which have already been cleared of all charges, if and when the prison is closed down due to their own countries either refuse to take them as the U.S. does or the U.S. refuses to send them to their own countries due to the Convention Against Torture Act which the U.S signed in 1988, prohibiting unlawful persecution or torture.

The United States Public has been crying for years that Guantanamo was against the detainees Constitutional Rights and finally a President has listened to them and wants to close Guantanamo. What? Is he “Nuts”? First of all anyone in that prison has NO Constitutional Rights, they aren’t even American. The prison isn’t even located in the United States, it’s in Cuba. These prisoners are there for very good reason; they can’t be anywhere else. They are too dangerous for the “super max” prisons in the U.S. and their own countries most likely would let them go. Honestly we must think so, because there are 17 detainees from China sitting in Guantanamo that were cleared of all charges and were ordered to be set free in the U.S. But the first thing the U.S. did when this happened was to appeal and say no, so these men sit in prison because we won’t take them and we don’t want them to go to their own homes as they may be harmed or worse come back to the U.S.

 	Per reports 80 men were to be trialed by military commission during Bush administration only 20 have completed two full trials. “175 men are unlikely to face any domestic charges at all, of the 175, 100 of the men are considered to be potentially dangerous by the Bush Administration but not too dangerous to stand military trial”. 

So what is the next option you ask? The United States is in negotiations with other non-violent countries to take the detainees. How will this work? Not very well, all of the countries that they U.S. has talked to thus far have all said the same thing; If you do it, we’ll do it but “you must pull your weight”. After they figure where they can send detainees they will need to figure out how to try them.

Per Vice President Elect Joe Biden the detainees will either be moved, tried in American courts, tried in military courts or they will need to be sent back to their own countries. Along with CIA director Leon Panetta a confirmation hearing has set forth a review of cases to determine which prisoners will be tried, transferred or what to do with those prisoners that cannot be transferred for tried for one reason or another. (Lake, 2009) Obama has committed himself and his cabinet to only using interrogation techniques on “high valued” prisoners that may need to go beyond the Army Field Manuel under special circumstances. So if the Obama campaign can resolve the means of interrogation and stop the torturing of combatants then can’t they figure out how to keep the terrorists on the United States without having to close a prison that holds prisoners so dangerous that they deem so dangerous that they cannot be locked up with our own American prisoners.

Our prison systems are set up to protect the people of the United States from those who are out there set on hurting us, then we turn around and worry about the prisoners that want to hurt us and protect them. But what happens to the U.S. when they release prisoners that have been locked up for many years that know nothing else anymore but to become vengeful against their captors? Put a man in a small cell, keep him there against his will, without valid charges, and torture him eventually he will seek revenge. That revenge can come in many forms, from attacking the very place that he was held at for all those years or he could go completely off of the deep end and attack the entire country. We need to leave the prison open, hey to coin an old phrase “If it’s not broke don’t fix it”. I myself am scared that one day after they release these men or send them somewhere else that they will be back with a vengeance and we will be kissing our butts good-bye. It will be 9/11 all over again or worse.

We leave the prison open and place it under new management replace all of the guards and the standard operating practices then the prison can remain open and harbor those that are against the United States. It will take a lot of time to get it to the full capability of the Geneva Convention rules, but with hard work and the right people to guide them it can be done.

Bethann9295 (talk) 21:19, 20 April 2009 (UTC)Bethann9295Bethann9295 (talk) 21:19, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

References for this paper

Melia,Mike February 14, 2009. "Former Gitmo Guard Recalls Abuse". Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1879644.html Mayer,Catherine February 23, 2009. "Surviving Guantanamo: A Prisoner’s Tale". Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1881294,00.html Lake,Eli Reviewed February 25, 2009. "Small Change". The New Republic http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=90aaa566-0f7d-4591-9a0d-4283ca08f37c Landau,Joseph November 13, 2008. "Indefinite Detention Center". The New Republic http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=0ff27be1-d474-49ca-ab49-al45371c9eb3 Franklin, Jane April 11, 2005. “How did Guantanamo Become a Prison?” History News Network (HNN) http://hnn.us/articles/11000.html May 19, 2006. “Guantanamo Bay’s Peculiar History” Now on PBS http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/220/guantanamo-bay-history.html