Jan 24 2009
Guantanamo Detention Center – A National Disgrace
President Obama wasted no time in addressing the evil that is Guantanamo. The establishment of the prison on the Naval base has brought shame to the United States and scorn from former allies. It has been poorly run and violated the basic tenants of fair play that Americans have been known for throughout history. George Bush and his administration threw haebeas corpus out the window and condemned hundreds of captured men to living hell without any way of proving their innocence. So what do these illegally incarcerated prisoners do? They become bitter and learn to hate the America they have been exposed to.
Now President Obama has to clean up the mess left behind. We are fortunate to live in a democracy where we can purge our government every four years of elected officials who bring shame and disgrace on our nation. We are lucky that we no longer live in a Bush democracy. The brand that he tried to impose on Iraq and Afghanistan. A democracy in name only, steeped in human rights violations, secrecy and lies. It is time President Obama and his new government bring to justice the men and women who have tarnished our name and disgraced our country.
It is the knell of justice that the Republicans in congress fear now. They are responsible for creating a monster and their only solution is to stay the course. Senator Brownback recently stated that protecting the public is more important than closing Guantanamo. He states:
By issuing Thursday’s executive orders, President Obama has ensured that his success or failure in matters of national security policy will be defined in part by what he does with detainees.
It amounts to a test of whether the promises of the campaign trail can be reconciled with the fundamental responsibility of protecting all Americans.
I disagree with setting a date for closing Guantanamo Bay’s detention facility because I believe that adhering to a schedule is less important than preserving our security. (Source: CNN)
In other words he has no solution. But to substantiate their claims the Republicans announce that many of the released detainees have returned to terrorist activity. Detainees released by President Bush. The Pentagon has stated that 61 former detainees may have returned to terrorist activities. But they offer no concrete evidence.
On Friday, a Pentagon spokesman defended the integrity of the report, but would not directly answer questions about where the figures come from.
“We don’t make these figures up — they’re not done willy-nilly,” said spokesman Geoff Morrell.
Pentagon officials have said they would not discuss how the statistics were derived because of security concerns that such information could give clues to how U.S. intelligence officers collect their data. (Source: CNN).
We’ve heard that song long enough. Feed us a lie then tell us they can’t tell us how they got the information. Just trust us they say. Yeah, right. Well American’s trust has been worn thin, we want evidence and proof. We want accountability.
The new administration realized the danger we face if the closing isn’t handled right. Public safety is a concern. We are going to have to be protected from the monsters created by the Bush administrations bungling at Guantanamo. Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, states:
As the Pentagon begins the work of closing the facility and finding places to send, or release, detainees there, Gates stressed that security will remain his top concern.
“Clearly, the challenge that faces us, and that I’ve acknowledged before, is figuring out how do we close Guantanamo and, at the same time, safeguard the security of the American people,” he said. “That’s the challenge that we will continue to face.” (Source: CNN)
The longer Guantanamo remains open the more ammunition our adversaries have to attack us with. The propaganda value of the detention center alone has encouraged some to speak out against us with some credibility. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said on Friday:
“I see the decision of President Obama to close the torture and detention center as a positive step, Perez Roque told journalists during a visit to Guatemala.
“I think that the existence of a center where they’ve carried out physical and psychological torture, and humiliated prisoners, is an affront to humanity,” Perez Roque added.
The Cuban foreign minister said he hoped the United States would dismantle the naval base where the “war on terror” prison camp is located — it has been in Guantanamo, on the island’s southeast coast, for more than a century — and return the land to Cuba. (Source: Raw Story)
Admittedly, an admonition from the Cubans on human rights and torture is ironic, but we are doing it in their country. Already there are conversations in some circles about war crimes tribunals. Tribunals not to try the detainees, but to go after the architects of torture who set up and ran our illegal prisons throughout the world. This is a good idea and to quote former President George W Bush, “bring em on.”
