Guantanemo Detainees Not Welcome in North America

It’s a tough one for sure...closing Guantanamo Bay. The closure most countries agree on - it is the disposition of contents that is causing a world-wide political problem.

Currently there are still about 240 detainees at the facility located in Cuba and many are, and have been held without charge and without justice since their capture..

Guantanamo Bay is a U.S. Naval Base, opened in 2002 by former President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks on the twin towers.

The concept is fabulous - these people after all, are human and under all of our countries written laws and human rights, they are entitled to fair treatment as humans with access to the judicial system. This is exactly what is in question and a large part of the reason the base is being closed.

The prisoners of Guantanamo are all held based on their perceived threat to Americans - and that is why the Americans are holding them. Now that President Obama has made the popular decision to close the facility, he is faced with several problems - the most recent coming from his own office. A House of Representatives Panel has recently declined the $60M Obama requested for the Justice Department for its work in helping to close down the facility - favoring many other spending programs.And in turn has also demanded extensive risk reports on the detainees in advance of releasing or transferring any detainees. They are also adamant they do not want any of them on U.S. soil.

There are about 70 of the approximate 240 prisoners who would be immediately eligible for transfer to host countries. Finding host countries willing to accept and re-settle them is proving more than problematic - Canada has said no and the countries of the European Union (E.U.) are carefully considering and outlining all possible ramifications. New York Times, June 10th.

Palau, an island about 500 miles east of the Phillippines has agreed to accept 17 (of the 50) ethnic Uighur Muslims. A temporary measure to be reviewed again at a later date. Some White House Officials have reported the U.S. is giving approximately $200M for long-term development aid in return as part of a defence and co-operation treaty due to be re-negotiated this year. Palau was a U.S. Territory until independence of 1994 and relies on Washington for defence.

One of the first things the E.U. considers is the sharing of information on the detainees - which, so far the United States has not been very good at. What the E.U. is getting at is....exactly what information has been extracted from the prisoners and, has the information been extracted according to human rights (ie; without torture and inhumane treatment). The answer to this is very important as it will provide insight into possible further problems if they do infact accept any detainees into their countries.

For instance they indicate - The absence of any clear operational or evidential criteria for the initial detentions and the complete absence of due process from the moment of arrest makes it impossible to determine with confidence whether the detainees are hard-core terrorists, foot soldiers or just people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The background for this question is the countries of the E.U. are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment - something Guantanamo (Bush) has been widely accused of. Because of the Convention on Human Rights this ultimately means that no inmate could be tried in any of these European countries based on information gained via questionable treatment.

The next thing is that an accepting host country could quite possibly end up in court for not protecting the prisoners rights under the Convention in the first place-applies to those who may have previously resided in any of the E.U. countries.

Then, there is also the possibility that an inmate could seek action against the United States once settled into their host country.

This will for sure be a long drawn out process. Obama is committed to bringing as many of these prisoners through the U.S. judicial systems as possible - one Tanzanian is currently sitting in New York awaiting a hearing this week for some 286 charges in relation to conspiring with Osama bin Laden to kill Americans and his role in several embassy bombings in Africa. Though he admits his involvement in the bombings and apologizes, he plead not guilty because he says he did not know the planned outcome of the plans. There have previously been four tried and convicted who are currently serving life sentences in the U.S.

Closing Guantanamo is the right thing to do - but re-locating the prisoners in other countries is not. These prisoners are there because they are perceived threat to American Citizens, and that is why the Americans have been holding them. Should the Americans first prove the guilt or innocence of the prisoners, impose appropriate prison terms or make restitution then let them go to other countries?

What’s your opinion? We’d like to hear it and share it with other readers.
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