There is a detention center at the US base in Guantánamo Bay. The President has declared his intent to see that this facility is no longer used for holding detainees.
Here's how I see it:
First - why does the US hold any land on Cuba? The Cubans did not willingly give us the land on which the base is located for use as a naval base. I would like the US government to relinquish all military presence in Cuba. I mean beyond the detention center -- the entire operation.
Second - why do we need to hold 'suspected terrorists' at Gitmo? Some people argue that we need to hold them there so that we can use 'enhanced interrogation' techniques to figure out what they are really up to. 'Enhanced interrogation' is another term for 'torture'. In the US, torture is not acceptable. The premise here is that Guantánamo Bay is not part of the US and, therefore, the detainees are not granted a writ of habeas corpus. This notion that we can ignore a moral principle because the land on which our government-run installation is founded does not belong to us is ridiculous. Morality and torture do not care where the detainees are held. If it is so important that we (our military/government) be allowed to torture detainees, then they should certainly be able to do so within the undisputed United States borders.
The lie is that we have greater authority in Cuba than we do in the US. From a legal standpoint, we do not.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think the real issue here is how they are classified. Are they considered prisoners of war, or "enemy combatants" as they like to call it now, or are they considered criminals. If you answer yes to prisoners of war, then the logic would be they should be executed, and have no real rights, except under articles of the Geneva Convention. If they are considered criminals, then a trial on U.S. soil would be appropriate at the venue where the crimes were perpetrated.
ReplyDeleteMy personal opinion is that a grand jury should decide which classification they fall under, then the procedures for their classification should be adhered to.