In a bid to resist any sense of shared sacrifice or collective participation, politicians are doing their best to keep the military prison hidden away—out of sight, out of mind, and barely accessible to media. That assumption, along with so many others about the detention center, proved to be wildly mistaken. The Supreme Court, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld , took the prisoners out of legal limbo and confirmed their basic protections under Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.
But Gitmo has still been a failure on every level: From reports of abuse and torture , to the forced-feeding scandal , suicides , and even a tragic case of mistaken identity , the detention center at Guantanamo has remained an ethical and legal disgrace. When Barack Obama talked about shutting Guantanamo down during his presidential campaign, his argument was predicated on the hypocrisy of the United States claiming to be fighting a war in defense of Western values while also suspending habeas corpus.
The murder victims are dressed in orange jump suits for a reason: To make them look like the Guantanamo detainees shown in the iconic Camp X-Ray pictures. The prison at Guantanamo is also expensive—enormously so.
But such an initiative is unlikely to bring down the curtain anytime soon on the offshore facility, due largely to the steep political and legal obstacles that also frustrated efforts by his ex-boss, former President Barack Obama, to close it. Set up to house foreign suspects following the Sept.
Trump kept the prison open during his four years in the White House. Now, 40 prisoners remain, most held for nearly two decades without being charged or tried. Related Coverage. Opened under President George W. Obama whittled down the number further but his effort to close the prison was stymied largely by Republican opposition in Congress. The federal government is still barred by law from transferring any inmates to prisons on the U. This was the major challenge for closing the facility.
And it was the main reason why it remains open. In the same conference, he called on the Chinese government to immediately release all of those who are arbitrarily detained there. All of these examples illustrate how the actions on Guantanamo Bay can be regarded as hypocritical since they do not conform with moral standards and beliefs that the United States government says it holds and imposes on other countries.
In my opinion, the United States is a powerful country, and certainly holds the means and power to gather evidence against those whom they believe to be enemies of the State. Therefore, to imprison for multiple years men who are seen under international law as innocent citizens, without the right to a fair trial and subjecting them to interrogation, regardless of such being lawful or unlawful, can be viewed as a clear violation of human rights. Such actions go against the morals and values that the United States holds dear and imposes in other circumstances.
Source: NBC News. Victoria is a Columnist at Impakter. Currently pursuing the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, Victoria hopes to study journalism and political sciences in the future.
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