Guantanamo Bay also known as "Gitmo" will officially be closed within the next year. Guantanamo Bay is the oldest naval base The United States has which is outside of the actual United States. It's also the only United States Military base located on Communist soil.Gitmo is located in the Oriente Province on the southeast corner of Cuba. The United States bought the 45 square mile area in 1903.
Since 9/11 The Bush Administration has used Guantanamo to detain prisoners who were possible terrorist. This worked until information was released that The United States military officers were torturing prisoners.
The main type of torture being "waterboarding."
Waterboarding has become a huge issue through the United States. Questions asking is this really torture? Have come to surface.
The idea of waterboarding is that you are strapped down to a table, bed, etc. unable to movie. A wet cloth is put over your face, this makes breathing difficult. Followed by water being poured onto your face. Giving the victim the feeling of drowning to death. They also will sometimes pour the water directly into your mouth with no rag.
After much pressure from human rights groups, congress (held mostly of democrats) voted on allowing waterboarding to be used on Gitmo detainees. The voting took place on February 13, 2008. a 51-45 voting score showed that waterboarding would now become illegal.
Today January 22, 2009 during President Obama's second day on the job, it was announced that Guantanamo Bay would close within the next year. President Obama has already signed this executive order and 2 others.
The second being the ban of any kind of torture. All interrogation techniques must now come from the Army Field Manual.
The third executive order states The Interagency Task Force must review all of the detention policies and procedures to make sure they are "up to date."
The controversy is now becoming... how do we prosecute the suspects who were in Guantanamo Bay. Some say that The United States Legal system can deal with it just as the justice system deals with any crime.
Others say there is no way this could work. These are terrorist who have one main objective which is to kill anyone who does not agree with them.
Closing Gitmo is something that President Obama helped run his campaign with. He has stuck to his word. He is doing whatever he can to separate himself from the Bush Administration.
The Guantanamo Bay controversy will not stop anytime soon. Time will tell if President Obama has made the right choice of how to treat our captured terrorist.
Graphic Content: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a4KCtE8mTw
President Obama has many hard choices to make during his first hundred days. Unfortunately for him, Guantanamo Bay is just the tip of the iceberg. I believe he has made the right decision, however I do have a few reservations.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the government carries out the closure in an orderly manner and they meticulously examine each prisoner’s criminal history. Millions of people’s lives could depend on it.
I am glad that Obama has taken swift action in this case, but I also think the issues at Guantanamo Bay raise larger questions about how our armed forces are trained. Do soldiers follow orders even when their conscience is uncertain? As a civilan, I have opinions about what happened at Gitmo, but I have never served in the military or faced a hostile suspect. What do our military leaders say about this situation? Are they upset about Guantanamo Bay because it is the politically corret thing to say or do they remember that every human being has rights- regardless of what he/she may or may not have done?
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