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| Yes | 51% | 283 votes | Total: 560 votes | |
| No | 49% | 277 votes |
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Add to FavoritesGuantanamo was a bad idea from the beginning. One of the major problems has been how the prisoners were treated and handled. The treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo has proceeded without the safeguards associated with the doctrine of Habeas Corpus. Guidance as directed from the Geneva Convention has been non-existent. Detainees being held at Guantanamo are simply unable to challenge the legality of being held there. George Bush and his cohorts developed the phrase "enemy combatant," allowing them to detain suspected terrorists without complying with the Geneva Convention. This in essence allowed the Department of Defense to be responsible for their care and keep the Red Cross out of the equation.
Even without considering the moral and legal issues involved perhaps the thing to ask one's self when trying to decide on a course of action is how well is this working? And how about our use of "enhanced interrogation techniques"? That certainly has a much better ring to it then torture. Torture has never worked because people undergoing overwhelming pain and fear will say anything to make it stop.Torture has been outlawed in the United States since our history began and for very good reasons. Also, whats "good for the goose is good for the gander". We want our prisoners, when taken, to be treated under the guidelines of the Geneva Convention. Guantanamo makes the United States look hypocritical and puts our young men and women, who serve in our military, in harm's way. It subjects them to bigger risks when captured such as being mistreated, tortured, or killed.
During this last election, I respected John McCain for his views concerning torture. I treasured the wisdom of someone who had lived to tell about torture. Every day the brave young men and women in our armed services risk their lives to keep us safe and sound. They are also fighting for a belief system. A belief system that mandates that all men are created equal and that no one is above the law.This is the reason for the Constitution. Our forefathers had the foresight to realize not one man is perfect and that there needed to be a system that provided oversight and promoted fairness and equality. These philosophies were the bedrock that created our constitutional platform. If we simply continue to ignore or break the laws of our land, the laws won't be worth the paper they are written on.
Learn more about this author, Kelly Greenbaum.
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No
Guantanamo Bay detention center should not be closed...in fact, it should be expanded so that all EPWs, unlawful combatants, terrorists & suspect terrorist prisoners can be kept there - at least initially before being shipped out to regional confinement centers for long-term incarceration.
Most folks don't remember this, but during WWII the US established an extensive system of POW camps inside the United States...captured enemy soldiers, including non-traditional troops which were the forerunners of modern Special Operations troops, were kept there...Prisoners were segregated based on the threat they posed...really bad guys went into a maximum security system, common soldiers went into a minimum or medium security system...Many tens of thousands of enemy forces were held here and many of those prisoners worked in agricultural fields or at performing other work that was useful to a nation at war.
Some of the really bad guys attempted to continue their bad ways while incarcerated and were ultimately executed and buried in graves of dishonor. Needless to say, but I will for emphasis' sake, coercive interrogation methods were employed, when necessary.
When the war ended and repatriation processes were under way US military officials were surprised to learn that up to 15% of the former POWs refused repatriation and actually applied for immigration status...while most POW immigration requests were initially refused, many former POWs found ways to legally immigrate to the US so that between 1947 and 1955, more than 80,000 former enemy combatants returned to the US as legal immigrants.
The crop of human trash we now have warehoused at Guantanamo and other detention facilities are nothing like the enemies we faced in WWII...many of the people we now hold are certifiable sociopaths & psychopaths, each incapable of ever living successfully in a modern, Western society. I've seen the crew we have in the detention facility outside of Kabul, Afghanistan...they are a vicious, vulgar, vile lot...killers, almost to the man. The US recently built a new facility at the detention center, located in the Afghan National Army's 201st (Central) Corps area of responsibility to house Afghan fighters formerly housed at Guantanamo Bay. The ANA guards at the facility were trained by MPRI professionals, all former US military prison and EPW center officers and NCOs; under supervision of currently serving US military...the facility and staff are all state-of-the-art...a nd they need to be because the people housed there are vermin...murderous scum who care nothing for human life - often, including their own. They are, in general, beyond redemption and have much blood of innocent people on their hands.
The enemy we face today is unlike any we have faced in any of our previous wars...these are the worst dregs of humanity...vicious, demented people who do not deserve to be returned to human society.
For these monsters: no pity, no mercy - ever. Put humanistic, secular-progressive theory, grow up and live in the real world: these creatures are not worthy opponents such as the Germans & Japanese...or even the foul Soviets...there is no possibility that any of these beings could ever appreciate the humane treatment they've received at our hands or that they could be rehabilitated enough to grant them access to our society when this war ends - which it will, as all wars eventually end.
The only courses of action for dealing with these evil creatures is to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives or to kill them outright...they are beyond any form of redemption.
Learn more about this author, James Coles.
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