On his second day as President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay within one year. The detention facility was established after 9/11 by the Bush administration to imprison individuals defined as “enemy combatants”- those who the administration felt posed a potential threat to national security. Located on the Guantánamo Naval Base in southern Cuba the infamous facility has come to symbolize controversial U. S. anti-terrorism tactics such as indefinite rendition and waterboarding. The Bush White House deemed the system as essential to fighting the “War on Terror.”
Closing the U.S. prison will improve America’s image abroad and embolden American efforts in the war on Islamic terrorism. The installation has been subject to international condemnation since its inception. In a 2005 speech at the launch of Amnesty International’s annual report on human rights Irene Kahn the organization’s secretary-general called the Guantánamo prison “the gulag of our times” – comparing the American military facility to labor camps in the former Soviet Union. In 2006 anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu told BBC the facility is “disgraceful.” Even former British Prime Minister Tony Blair – an unwavering ally of the Bush administration – deemed the Guantánamo camp an “anomaly” that had to be “dealt with.”
The success in defeating terrorists in a world without Gitmo will rely in large part on the cooperation of foreign nations and foreign support will remain strong if they deem our cause righteous. As time passes George W. Bush’s threat of “with or against us” is losing its effectiveness. Countries will withdraw support if their citizens view the American military tactics as unfair and unethical. If international support is lost so too is the American cause against terrorism. Closing Guantánamo sends a message to the rest of the world that the United States under the new president is determined to fight its enemies with justice.
America is competing with terrorists for the hearts and minds of Arab nations. The U.S. needs to show them that fundamentalism espoused by groups like Al Qaeda is not just and will not succeed. The Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay’s facility have come to symbolize the American “War on Terror” in much of the Muslim world. A move to close Guantanamo will prove the Obama administration’s resolve to Muslim nations to continue to take the lead on humanitarian efforts including those regarding the imprisoned.
President Obama recognizes that the United States must defeat bands of Islamic terrorists on the field of battle as well as on the battlefield of ideas. In other words in order to defeat Islamic terrorism the U.S. must defeat the anti-American ideology that fuels it. Torturing prisoners for information and breaking international laws in the name of expediency defeats the purpose of what the U.S. stands for. America cannot claim the moral high ground on the one hand while torturing people with the other.
The American government has side-stepped the Third Geneva Convention and the War Crimes Act of 1996 through the use of semantics. Thus far America has defined those held at Guantánamo Bay as “enemy combatants” instead of “prisoners of war.” The government has done so in order to torture the prisoners.
Adhering to both international and domestic law is not only right it is in the United States’ best interest. According to the article “Five Guantánamos” written by Dr. Dan Caldwell after visiting the facility “Colin Powell strongly objected to denying the detainees at Guantánamo the protections of the Geneva Conventions” in fearing “American military personnel would be similarly denied these protections in future conflicts.” The United States is right in killing terrorists and defeating groups like Al Qaeda. The enemy America and her allies face is the embodiment of evil and the United States must defeat them in the battle of right versus wrong. Flying planes into the Twin Towers was wrong. Blowing up buses and subways in London was wrong. Walking into hotels in Mumbai and indiscriminately killing hundreds of innocent people was wrong.
Likewise torturing people is always wrong whether foreigners are torturing Americans or vice versa. It was wrong when Japanese soldiers tortured the U.S. allied POWs in World War II. It was wrong when North Vietnamese soldiers brutalized American troops in the Vietnam War. And it is wrong when the United States tortures enemy prisoners.
Torturing suspected terrorists at facilities like Guantanamo makes it harder for America to infiltrate terrorist cells and kill its enemies and torture is ineffective in procuring essential information from suspects. In “Five Guantánamos a member of Shin Bet, the Israeli intelligence service, claimed the ideal interrogator is fluent in Arabic … and knowledgeable about the Quran Arabic culture geography history and the structure of family and tribal ties” of the detainee. Skills useful for dialogue and manipulation not torture make a good interrogator. Under extreme interrogation methods a prisoner is likely to say anything his captors want to hear in order to stop the pain. American interrogators want to hear the truth.
When American officials abide by international law and treat prisoners in accordance with the Geneva Conventions it is more likely they will receive the information necessary to fight terrorists. The Obama administration has sought to reset America on the path of righteousness by closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. This move improves America’s standing around the world after the Bush presidency and helps American forces defeat those who aim to destroy the country. On his second day in office President Obama went back to the future in order to restore American prestige.
*** CORRECTED VERSION: Shin Bet is the name of the intelligence agency not the agent as printed on 1/29/09***