Persuasive Essay On Guantanamo Bay

Located in Cuba Guantanamo Bay served for the U. S as a prison for illegal detention. The U. S by combating the war on terror at Guantanamo Bay is doing something unconstitutional. The main reason the U. S decided to use Guantanamo was after 9/11 in an attempt to fight the war on terror. The use of Guantanamo goes back to the Spanish civil war, and even when Cubans were sent to this prison by Castro. Guantanamo also is currently in debate on its closing.

Guantanamo Bay was first discovered in 1494, by Christopher Columbus. Christopher sailed here on an attempt to locate gold. Although no gold was found the discovering of the protected bay opened as a safe haven for pirates and British navy alike in the years that followed (Packard 1). On June 10, 1898, U. S marines landed on the bay during the Spanish- American war this gave U. S control over the bay (“ Notes On” 1). The first use of the bay was in November 1991, when the Naval Base started being used as a prison (“ Notes On” 1). When a terrorist attack occurred on September 11, 2001, President Bush, along with his attorney general sought to use Guantanamo as a place where they could send prisoners captured in
Afghanistan. By November of 2001 ongoing operations in Afghanistan had a number of captives causing the U. S to look for a place to hold them as prisoners (Packard 1). Bush attorney General Alberto Gonzales working alongside legal officials, the Justice Department, and the Defense Department helped chart other legal paths in handling and imprisonment of suspected terrorist (Smith 1). By January 8, 2002, Cuba learned that the U. S would use Guantanamo base to hold prisoners captured in the war in Afghanistan (“ Notes on” 2). The first 20 prisoners arrived at the bay January 11, 2002, they were called “ unlawful combatants” and “ prisoners of war” and their rights under the Geneva Convention were removed (“ Notes on” 2). Altogether the detention of prisoners for the U. S served to gain information by torturing the prisoners.

Politically the keeping of Guantanamo caused many problems for the U.S. The first problem was that people were angry that the prisoners had no right to legal representation, or even any rights prisoners in the U. S had (Packard 3). The U. S supreme court has had four important lawsuit decisions such as Rasul V. Bush, Boumediene V. Bush, Hamdi V. Rumsfeld, and Hamdan V. Rumsfeld (Seligson 1). These cases held that they cannot be held indefinitely without trial (Seligson 1). Secondly, the biggest political problem that occurred because of the illegal detention in Gitmo was the torture techniques. This was passed when Alberto Gonzalez included the detailed description of interrogation techniques such as “ waterboarding” (Smith 1). The technique of “ waterboarding” is a tactic where detainees feel as if they are drowning. These techniques are unconstitutional because they are not allowing these prisoners to a trial which are a right they should have and secondly they are receiving harsh and unusual punishment. If

these terrorist has committed a crime in the U. S then they should be prosecuted in the U. S with the rights of any U. S prisoner.

Guantanamo Bay now currently faces a new place in history. With Obama’s promises of closing Guantanamo because of the statements by many people that it’s unconstitutional. Presently in 2016 more and more detainees are being tried in the U.S. Senate, through an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (“ Closing Guantanamo” 1). This has set a path to close this controversial facility (
“
Closing Guantanamo" 1). This law does not assure the complete closing of the Prison. The law would allow the administration to bring about 115 detainees to the united states as long as a number of conditions were met (“Closing Guantanamo” 2). In other words, not all of the prisoners would be allowed to face trial in the United States. One of the biggest effects that occurs because of this is that approximately 200 detainees will be allowed to file a lawsuit in federal district court (“Gitmo Inmates” 1). The people that decide to sue the government will have to prove that the U. S was unlawful with their practices there. So technically the inmates have to prove to the government that the government was wrong. One problem with this is that the government of the United States rarely admits that they were wrong, therefore making it hard for the inmates to have a fair trial.

In many cases, the men held at Guantanamo have explained in explicit detail their experience in Guantanamo. The detainees speak about being starved, waterboarding, and even raped as a way of interrogation (“Guantanamo” 1). The complete closing of Guantanamo may be in a near future. The United States has recently made new relations with the political leader of Cuba. Although the United States recently has made this relation the bay still remains open as a place for the United States to keep their prisoners. Bush brought 779 men to the camp when it was first opened (Leopold 1).
These first men were held a secret from the American people. “Prisoners of war were denied hearings of lawyers, and were tortured by American soldiers. Often when these soldiers were sent to the prisons no evidence was given to the soldiers explaining why the prisoners were detained or even sent to the prison( Leopold 1). The bush administration believed that many of the prisoners held there were potential sources of information for the capture of AlQaedaa, and Saddam Hussein (Leopold 2). One thing is for sure because of Guantanamo and their unconstitutional tactics of interrogation the 2003 invasion of Sudan, and the murder ofOsamaa Bin Laden would have probably taken longer to occur if the prison wouldn’t have existed( Leopold
2).

Guantanamo Bay has served on two major occasions to have worked. The immorality still exists even when it’s successful. A prison where the government does not need to oblige to the constitutional rights a prisoner has no matter what crime they committed or thought to commit should not legally exist. People are taken from their home and for many years tortured almost to near death for information that the government believes might exist (“ Guantanamo” 3). The new laws passed by the senate to try to end what the Bush administration once believed was correct and probably constitutional is helping to close this facility. Of the 779 prisoners once in Guantanamo now senate has approved the transfer or release of 270 during the time period of 2013 (Stimson 2). This number shows that our United States government is trying to retract their choice in establishing a prison where people can be held without the rights of the constitution for the simple fact that it is not in the United States, therefore, the prisoners are not granted these rights. Today in Guantanamo Bay there are only eight prisoners left (“ Guantanamo” 3). Not only this but torture has long ceased in Guantanamo (“ Guantanamo” 3).