Earlier this week, President Obama officially announced his plans for closing down Guantanamo Bay Prison, which is a U.S. military prison/detention camp. He explained how former President George W. Bush also had this in his plans as well. So, what's the big deal?
I will refer to the prison as a "camp" from this point forward, because that's what it is; a detention camp specified for detaining extraordinary dangerous people. Since it's opening in 2002, there have been over 700 attendees of the camp, and it was surprisingly common for them to be released after a couple years of serving in the camp. Several Al-Qaeda leaders have been captured and brought to the prison over the years, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh. Many suicides have happened within the camp as well. This is likely because of the sever interrogation and torture set forth by U.S. officials to gain information on possible connections with terrorism.
So why shut it down? It seems like the idea of it is doing nothing but keeping bad guys off the streets; really bad guys, that is.
First of all, it's definitely been a financial burden. In July of 2012, it was reported that the facility received $40 million dollars for a communication upgrade. It is costly to transfer these high-profile people to and from their locations when they are entered into the camp, and when they are released from the camp. They're actions must be facilitated by U.S. officials all the time.
In Obama's second attempt to close the prison (he had plans for it when he was first elected in 2008), he expressed some of his opinions on why this camp must be closed was released in a public statement, found at http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/obama-congress-guantanamo-bay-closure-plan-219663
The article writes, "The White House will seek to entice lawmakers by portraying the plan as a money saver, saying it would cost $65 million to $85 million less per year to hold Guantánamo prisoners in facilities in the United States. Onetime costs of $290 million to $475 million to upgrade existing U.S. facilities or build new facilities would be recouped in three to five years, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity".
Yes it is obviously a huge cost issue between maintenance and upgrading the facility. But furthermore, Obama expresses, “If you think it’s better to kill people than to capture them and obtain information from them, then I guess you like this idea,” he told MSNBC. He also states in his announcement, "It undermines our standing in the world. It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law. As Americans, we pride ourselves on being a beacon to other nations, a model of the rule of law”. It's an ethical issue. They capture the most wanted terrorists in the world and torture them until they tell us what we want to hear. Is this the right thing to do? Or is it right to just kill them? Whatever the case, they can cover it up to the public as a financial issue.
One of the top Presidential candidates, Senator Marco Rubio, has explained that he disapproves of Obama's plan to shut down the facility. The future of the Guantanamo Bay Prison will remain in question for at least the next year or so.
One thing I found intriguing about this whole thing is that we are holding/keeping prisoners at Guantanamo whom we have nothing to prove they should be kept there other than they were in the same area as others we have detained. I think we are paying to keep them alive for no reason. If they are no use to us, with no information shouldn't we just kill them? Or at least make everyone else inside of the prison believe they have been killed to try and get others to speak. Even if we didn't move all of the prisoners to Guantanamo North but only took a select few and told them they were going to be killed if they didn't speak up would we get one or two of them to give in and give information?? Maybe.. maybe not, but one thing they do know right now is that they aren't paying for every meal they get and they know they will always get a next meal. Heck this might be a better life than they were living before being thrown into prison. I don't know, i don't think anybody will go for bringing them onto American soil when we already have a place for them set up.
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