What is your opinion on the Guantanamo Bay detention camp?

36 comments

1. Shut it the fuck down.

2. It should have been shut down long ago, having outlived its usefulness.

3. should be shut down.

4. Crime against humanity. Full stop.

5. It should not exist and it is *disgusting* that nothing has been done about it. We cannot claim that we are out here protecting and spreading “american values” while indefinitely detaining people without a timely and fair trial.

   If we can’t convict them with the evidence we have, then we shouldn’t be detaining them at all. If they can’t be returned to their home country, then they should be free to enter ours. If we don’t want that to happen, then we shouldn’t be detaining people without good cause/evidence in the first place.

6. It’s a disgrace and an affront to Sixth Amendment rights. It’s basically been a way to get around the Constitution to indefinitely house political prisoners without a trial. Particularly during the Bush administration, prisoners were tortured to get information, meaning most of what was admitted would be inadmissible in court.

   I’m still upset that Obama broke his campaign promise to close the camp, though undoubtedly it would have been a political nightmare to bring the prisoners to the US at that time.

7. When other countries torture people and imprison them without any due process we sanction them

8. Guantanamo Bay exposed a gap in our military and legal system. Citizens in the US are subject to our legal stand protections. Same for our military with foreign enemies. Wars have a start and finish, and yet a war in drugs or war on terror are bad as they can go for decades.

   So we put combatants in a prison for the duration of the “war.”

   Has Guantanamo Bay prevented further acts? Certainly. We know that a few people left and reengaged in more attacks, so they certainly would have engaged during the time they were imprisoned.

   But it may have also created tensions and resentment that led to more attacks.

   I’m most concerned about the violation of civil liberties. I would have preferred these defendants be prosecuted in American courts and served time here.

   There is no perfect solution to this.

9. It serves no purpose. Even if you accept the need for black sites for interrogation, it’s no longer useful, as most black sites are elsewhere, in countries that we are allied with but that don’t have good human rights protections. But really, most people agree we don’t need black sites at all.

   (Black site for those unfamiliar is a US facility somewhere outside of the US that the CIA or other agencies use to get around the constitution and use torture. It’s fucked, and guantanimo is the posterchild of them)

   The only purpose it seems to serve is pissing off Cuba.

10. I can’t figure out why trial hasn’t been set yet. I saw an interview with the defense attorney for the ~20 or so detainees still there and he’s distraught.

    Though in a morbid silver lining the fact they have access to attorneys is somewhat civil in what can only be considered an affront to due process.

11. Very poor. Embarrassing.

12. Water boarding at Guantanamo Bay sounds like a lot more fun than it is.

13. The worst of America. Fearful, stupid, arbitrary, and cruel. It should have been thoroughly investigated, and if people were found to be torturing, defending torture, double-speaking “torture”, and so on, they should be punished to the full extent of the law. If the laws are insufficient, they should be made clearer and harsher.

    It hurt America’s standing in the world. It made it harder for American diplomats, reduced our soft power, justified enemies, and taught our citizens that some people don’t get a trial.

    FUCK Guantanamo. And super-double-cactus-TNT-fuck anyone who defends it. Looking at you, Professor John Woo.

14. Eh, I’d rather go to Space Camp.

15. It should stay open as a place to keep people too dangerous to be housed on American soil(if the inmates break out, all they’ll find is an impoverished island police state where they’ll stick out like a sore thumb unless they’re Hispanic), but there shouldn’t be any of that “it’s not US soil so we can ignore the Constitution” crap. It doesn’t matter if they’re clearly guilty as sin-they’re entitled to a trial just like everyone else, be it as a criminal or an enemy combatant.

16. Close the fucking camp.

17. It’s a disgrace and should be shut down immediately. Everyone accused of a crime deserves a fair trial, full stop. I oppose any attempts to finagle or loophole the right to one.

18. It’s an utter embarrassment.

19. I’ve been against the Guantanamo bay detention camp since 9/11.

    If they’re prisoners of war, then the Geneva convention rules apply. If they’re criminals, then the judicial system applies. But holding people with out due process is inexcusable.

    We shouldn’t just ignore the constitution and try and create some no man’s land where the rules don’t apply.

    I voted for Obama the first go round because I (wrongly) believed that he’d shut it down based on the constitution. I was wrong.

20. Seriously: I have no opinion at all.

    The existence of Guantanamo Bay and the detention camps there is one of those things that I look at, can roughly see the pros (you gotta park the worst prisoners captured on the battle field *somewhere*), and the cons (but in an extrajudicial camp in Cuba?)–and realize I simply do not have enough information to form even the most vague handwavey opinion.

21. I honestly think the Bush administration has quite a few people who participated in and enabled egregious human rights abuses.

    I don’t think having a military base on Cuba is an issue, but I don’t trust having a military prison there.

22. It’s a stain on the fabric of America.

23. You can’t handle the truth.

24. Worst vacation ever. 2 out of 5 stars.

25. Insanity that has gone on too long. It deserves international condemnation.

26. Manzanar anyone?

27. No problems with it personally

28. Jack Nicholson ordered that Code Red.

29. I’m not blaming you op, you didn’t come up with the term, but calling it a “detention camp” is one of the most slimiest, softest , most pernicious propaganda-laden terms the government has ever come up with

30. I’m fine with the camp staying open so long as there is no torture.

31. Lots of administrations say they’re gonna shut it down. Once in office though, they never do.

32. It served its purpose.

33. A national disgrace.

34. I don’t like the detention center but I am fine with it as a naval base I guess.

35. Cuba’s not getting it back.

36. It’s a constant stain on the US character.