TIME TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO

In response to the September 11 attacks, which killed 2,996, the U.S., joined by troops from the U.K., launched "Operation Enduring Freedom," and invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. While in pursuit of Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda fighters, most of which escaped to neighboring Pakistan, the Taliban was driven from power and scattered throughout the countryside. In the process, the U.S. and an expanding contingent of coalition members, captured, held, and expressed the desire to interrogate a large number of suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban combatants, but needed to a find a place to do this. Guantanamo, a 45 square mile U.S. naval base on the south-east coast of Cuba, which the U.S. had been leasing since 1903, was considered to be perfect for this purpose. Guantanamo was secure and far from the front lines of battle. It was technically outside of U.S. territory, yet under complete U.S. control. In legal terms, the Bush administration considered it a zone in which its personnel could conduct detention and interrogation operations with few legal and judicial constraints. Moreover, the administration decided that the Geneva Convention would not apply to the conflict at hand. On January 11, 2002, the first flight with 20 detainees landed at Guantanamo. This total grew to a peak of 780 inmates before it began to shrink. Ultimately, President Bush released 540 prisoners, President Obama transferred 200, and President Trump got rid of 1. Today 39 captives remain. Many are being held without having been charged or tried. Of these, 17 are held in indefinite "law of war" detention as enemy combatants. They are neither facing tribunal charges nor being recommended for release. Another 10 have been recommended for transfer. They are no longer considered a threat to U.S. security, but they are still incarcerated. Of the remaining 12, 3 face proposed charges and 9 have been charged or convicted. The latter group includes Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Mohammed's trial was set to begin January 11, 2021, but it has been postponed because of myriad pretrial motions and complications related to the pandemic. Pressure to close the Guantanamo detention center has been building from the outset.. Early on, even President Bush admitted that the detention facility had become a "propaganda tool for our enemies and a distraction for our allies." Retired Major General Michael Lehnert, the first commander of the prison camp, during a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting in March of 2016, was quoted to have concluded that "Guantanamo was a mistake. History will reflect that. It was created in the early days as a consequence of fear, anger, and political expediency. It ignored centuries of rule of law and international agreements. It does not make us safer and it sullies who we are as a nation." A major segment of consequential office holders, including President Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Senator McCain and others over time also indicated they wanted it closed. The Biden administration picked up where Obama left off, launching a National Security Council review with the intent of closing the facility before the president leaves office. The timing seems appropriate. Since we have officially announced the end of our war in Afghanistan, continued detention of prisoners of war is no longer justifiable. Under the rules of war, combatants can only hold prisoners of war without trial until the war ends. These are supposedly held in preventive detention to stop them from returning to the battle field. They should be released upon cessation of hostilities. (Article 118 of the Geneva Convention). While closing the Guantanamo detention camp is arguably desirable from a number of viewpoints, actually doing it proves complicated. Our moral authority as a nation was seriously compromised when we used torture to obtain information and secure confessions. Guantanamo undermined our security by diminishing international cooperation and alienating Muslim communities. Legally we are skirting the law by denying habeas corpus rights to inmates not being charged, even though the Supreme Court specifically held that federal law applies in these cases. (Rasul v. Bush (2004) and re-affirmed in Boumedienne v. Bush (2008)). Moreover, the cost of keeping the facility open amounts to $13 million per prisoner per year. At $540 million Guantanamo is the most expensive prison on earth. Objections to closing the camp are practical, legal and political. Sending remaining detainees back to their home country may not be easy. They may not all be welcome and could be endangered upon their return. Transferring others to the U.S. mainland for prosecution could also be an issue. Some could be found innocent, simply because confessions were secured under torture. Politically closing Guantanamo remains controversial as well. In 2015, the Senate passed a defense appropriations bill which specifically prohibited the transfer of detainees to the U.S., or the use of funds to build or modify a prison on the mainland to house those detainees. However, there probably are ways to get around these prohibitions. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's statement during his January confirmation hearing that the administration would seek the closure of Guantanamo's detention facility drew a letter of rebuke signed by 7 Republican House members. They expressed their concern that those released would "become rock stars in the Islamist extremist world, posing an even greater threat to America and the world." This probably remains a sentiment held by many. But, after 20 years with a rapidly aging detainee contingent, we ought to cut to the chase, try and convict the master minds behind the 9/11 attacks, transfer or release the remaining prisoners, and close the facility down! The advantages far outweigh any potential ramifications. The place has been an albatross around our collective neck for too long. Theo Wierdsma