Guantanamo Bay - Case Study Example

Guantanamo Bay Client's 2 December 2009 Guantanamo Bay is located at the southern eastern end of Cuba; to be precise it is a bay which lies in the Guantanamo province of Cuba. This Bay is the largest harbor in Cuba on the south side of the island. In the year 1903, a treaty by the name Cuban-American treaty was signed under which the Americans took control of this Bay, in other words the US took over the lease of the place. There are differences at this moment; the Cuban government considers the US to have illegally occupied the land. This paper will throw light upon the Guantanamo Bay, a comprehensive analysis of the current situation will be provided. "The US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay has come under intense scrutiny since it began to receive foreign detainees in early 2002. The US has faced frequent attacks for holding inmates without trial and for their alleged mistreatment." (Guantanamo Bay). The United Nations has also got involved in the issue now and they have demanded for the immediate closure of this camp. The same has been strongly opposed by the US government and they have put forward that the inmates are treated very humanely in these camps and hence denying all the allegations made against the US. The camp was originally established to keep the suspected terrorists of Afghanistan. "Pentagon officials insist the US is entitled them to hold "enemy combatants" - who do not enjoy the rights of prisoners of war or US citizens accused of crimes - without charges or trial for the duration of hostilities. (Guantanamo Bay). The United nations have proofs of torture in these camps and hence they demand an immediate action by the US. The UN claim that the torture in these camps have reaches another level, the inmates are exposed to extreme temperatures and are fed through nasal tubes, the inmates are also exposed to extreme conditions produced by light and sound. The UN also claims that the prisoners have had mental break downs many a time and they are also denied the facility of contacting an outsider, this means that they can't even hire a lawyer for their rescue. A US soldier was reported to have flushed the Koran, the holy book of Muslims in the toilet, this sparked off a protest but the same got wavered and nothing came out of it. The US soldiers slam the heads of the prisoners against the cell; many more unimaginable things are done by the US soldiers' day in and day out. "The US says interrogations are yielding useful intelligence, including some from inmates who have been detained for up to two years." (Guantanamo Bay). "The current Cuban government considers the U.S. presence in Guantnamo to be illegal and the Cuban-American Treaty to have been procured by the threat of force in violation of international law" (Guantanamo Bay). There have been enough proofs found which show that the US soldiers have crossed all the limits and hence they must immediately pull out of Cuba, else the world is likely to witness another war. Major Issues A recent article published in The Guardian claims that a former Guantanamo inmate is a present Taliban leader heading many major operations. This is very bad news for the US and for all the other countries fighting terrorism. The inmates are being treated unfairly by the US army and the same motivates the inmates to escape the Bay and avenge the unfair treatment that they got from the US army. This is a huge problem which must be sorted out as soon as possible, many more members will join Taliban in order to teach the US a lesson in other words to give them a taste of their own medicine. The world is very familiar with the way the US soldiers treated Iraqi citizens. It is not very difficult to figure out why the inmates are turning against the US and joining dangerous groups. "The new Talibanmilitarycommander leading attacks against British troops in southernAfghanistanwas released fromGuantnamo Bay15 months ago after persuading a US military tribunal that he wanted to live a peaceful life with his family, according to US officials." (Former Guantnamo inmate now Taliban leader, US says). The hostile treatment that the US soldiers give to the inmates has come under intense scrutiny off late. Many innocent lives have been claimed because of people who have fled Guantnamo bay. Several British soldiers were recently killed in a landmine blast masterminded by people who have fled Guantnamo Bay. This is completely ludicrous and unacceptable. The US cannot afford to dominate the whole world the way it wants to, it is high time for them to take a back seat and evacuate the area of Guantnamo Bay. This will ensure less people turning towards terrorism and when this happens there will be a significant decrease in the deaths of soldiers serving in various armies all across the globe. The Non Photo policy Guantnamo first opened in the year 2002 and the US adopted a very strict policy of non photo which meant that no one was permitted to photograph the environment and the conditions of Guantnamo. This gives a good indication that whatever is being done with the victims is completely hidden from the world and most importantly from the media. It is not very hard to predict what's going on Guantnamo. The eyes of several citizens of Iraq were removed mercilessly by the US soldiers, the citizens were left at the mercy of dogs, they were not allowed to sleep, loudspeakers were used to keep the civilians awake and many more unimaginable things were carried out by the US soldiers in Iraq. Something similar must be going on in Guantnamo. "The no-identifying-photos policy affected the ability of the media to reach the public with their stories about the detainees, relegating the press to telling picture-less, abstract, dehumanized stories. However illuminating the reporting - and it has often been superb - of journalists who have covered Guantnamo and US detention policy, the pictures of individual detainees would have made written accounts much more evocative." (Guantanamo's faceless victims). Policies "The prison is unlikely to be shut until a solution is found on where to house its inmates, but a presidential order would start the process of deciding what to do with the estimated 250 detainees remaining there, most of whom have never been charged with a crime. Obama said repeatedly during his presidential campaign that the prison for al-Qaeda suspects had to go, but the US president-elect said at the weekend it would be "a challenge" to close it even within the first 100 days of his administration. The Guantanamo directive would be one of a series of executive orders Obama is planning to issue shortly after he takes office on January 20, according to the advisers, who spoke on condition of anonymity." (Obama) The prisoners are tortured day in, day out. Obama is doing his bit to stop the illegal activities taking place. It might be shut soon and there will be no more torture, the captured soldiers will be let free and they will live a new life. This is a very debatable issue and the US has even been questioned by the UN but nothing much has been done for the captured soldiers. The life that they live there is pathetic and the torture that they undergo is even worse, they should be let free on humanitarian grounds and they should never be captured again. The US is making a huge mistake by subjecting them to torture, the UN and the other powerful organizations must act as an arbitrator and they must help out these poor captured soldiers from other countries. "The detention camp at Guantanamo Bay just scares the hell out of me. Wasn't the term "Detention Camp" used by Hitler for places Like Auschwitz, Dacko, and other places where people were "interrogated" A couple of years ago I visited a "detention Camp" in Germany if you think torture is OK I urge you to visit one of these places that used to be used. There is just a feeling there that I can't describe with words. Being there has changed me as a person. Torture destroys people not just the physically but mentally. I cannot believe that as a country we are not up in arms over this. Americans are supposed to hold ourselves to a higher standard of morality. Plus it has been proven that almost all information collected from torture is not reliable. I cannot believe that there is such a place that is under American control." (Guantanamo Bay) It is a real surprise that concentration camps are still being run by the US, the above reaction sums up the pathetic situation of the camp. There were several pictures that had to be removed from the internet due to its disturbing nature. There were some videos put up on YouTube, even those videos had to be removed because of its disturbing nature. The torture has crossed all the limits, the US soldiers treated the Iraqi soldiers also in a similar manner and this is anything but acceptable. It is high time to stop this practice and it is high time to ensure no similar camps are set up by any country in the future. Conclusion There is no denying that the US is eager to dominate the whole world and prove to the world that it is a superior country. The human rights violation in Guantanamo is a very big reason for the inmates to turn against the US authorities and strike a rebellion. If the inmates start getting proper treatment from the US soldiers, there would be far less cases of the inmates turning against the US army. Most of these inmates take the easy way out and that without a doubt is focusing their attention towards terrorism. They do so in order to prove a point and to prove that they are not weak. This must be understood by the US authorities that hugely promote domination, domination can prove fatal and it is proving fatal now. So many innocent British soldiers would not have died had the inmates been treated properly in Guantanamo. The sooner the US authorities realize this, the better. The US should restrict its domination in order to promote peace and stability in the world. References De Zayas, Alfred. (2003.) The Status of Guantnamo Bay and the Status of the Detainees. Former Guantnamo inmate now Taliban leader, US says. In The Guardian. Retrieved on 2 December 2009 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/12/guantanamo-bay-taliban-afghanistan Guantanamo Bay. In BBC News. Retrieved on 2 December 2009 from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4720962.stm Guantanamo Bay. In College Net. Retrieved on 2 December 2009 from: http://www.collegenet.com/elect/app/appservice=external/TaggedPosts&sp=9578 Guantanamo's faceless victims. In The Guardian. Retrieved on 2 December 2009 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/09/binyam-mohamed-guantanamo Obama. In Forum Retrieved on 2 December 2009 from: http://forum.mpacuk.org/showthread.phpt=40186 Read More