Guantanamo Bay Naval Base; The Controversy.
In 2008, when Barrack Obama was running for hie first term in office, he had promised to close down Guantanamo Bay detention Camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There have multiple efforts to satisfy this promise that have met with lawful obstruction. Then the plan had changed into releasing Gitmo detainees to other countries, which, known now, is and was a mistake. Additionally, Obama made a deal with terrorists for the release of five Taliban fighters for one man, who we suspected to be a traotor, which has been proven fact. Many of these released terrorists have rejoined the fight against America.
Located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, better known as Gitmo(GTMO), was established in 1898 when the United States of America took control of Cuba from Spain at the end of the Spanish-American war. Cuba signed a perpetual lease for the land, with the United States, on February 16, 1903 for the use of the U.S. Navy Base and coaling, becoming effective on February 23, 1903. But, the lease was executed in two agreements. The second agreement, concerning conditions of the lease, was signed on July 2, 1903. The cost of the lease, from 1903 to 1934, was $2000.00 per year(in U.S. Gold coin), and from 1934 to present, is $4085.00 per year. It is located on the South East end of Cuba, consisting of 45 square miles of land and water and is the oldest overseas U.S. Naval Base.
The first signed lease(February 1903) conditions were as follows, a promise to lease, for the time required, an area to be determined, at Guantanamo Bay, with Cuba to acquire and include any privately held interior lots, and two parcels of land and adjacent waters in Bahia Honda; the right to use the areas as naval stations, and for no other purpose, with a non-exclusive easement to adjacent waters;
complete jurisdiction to belong to the U.S., while it "recognizes the continuance of ultimate sovereignty" of Cuba.
The second signed lease(July 1903) outlined the responsibility of the United States concerning the base. They are as follows, the annual lease payment of $2,000.00 in U.S. gold coin, as long as the United States occupies and uses the areas. The United States to build and maintain fences. Only for use as a Naval and coaling station. Mutual right of extradition. A duty-free zone, but not a port of entry for weapons or other goods into Cuba proper. Cuban shipping to have the right of access to the Bay and ratification to be within seven months.
Since the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the Cuban government has consistantly protested the presence of the United States on Cuban soil. Calling it illegal under International Law, claiming the base was imposed upon Cuba by force. Since the 1959 revolution, Cuba has cashed one rent check, all subsequent lease payments have been refused. In those 57 years of non acceptance of payment, Cuba has lost $232,845.00.
The 'Cactus Curtain' is term given to the boundary between the Naval base and the Cuban controlled territory. After the 1959 revolution, some Cubans came to the base for sanctuary or refuge, which led to, in the fall of 1961, Cuban troops to plant an 8-mile barrier of Opuntia Cactus along the northeastern section of the 17-mile fence surrounding the base to stop Cubans from escaping Cuba to take refuge in the United States. This was dubbed the Cactus Curtain, an allusion to Europe's Iron Curtain, the Bamboo Curtain in East Asia or the similar Ice Curtain in the Bering Strait. Then, the U.S. troops and Cuban troops, in seperate initiatives, placed over 50,000 land mines around the perimeter of the base, known as 'no man's land', creating the second largest minefield in the world and the largest in the western hemisphere. U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered the demining of the American field in May of 1996. These have been replaced with more modern technologies, i.e., motion and sound dectectors. It is worth mentioning that the Cuban government has not demined it's corrosponding mine field around the perimeter.
In 2002, a 612 unit, military prison was established on this leased property, Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp(Camp Delta), for unlawful/enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq and others, during the war on terror. Which includes camps 1 through 6, Camp Echo; where pre-commissions are held, Camp Iguana; originally designed for juvenile detainees, now holds those viewed as, 'No longer enemy combatants', and Camp X-Ray; which was closed in 2002. From 2003 to 2006, the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) operated a small site, known informally as "Penny Lane," to house prisoners whom the agency attempted to recruit as spies against Al-Qaeda. The housing at Penny Lane was less sparse by the standards of Guantanamo Bay, with private kitchens, showers, televisions, and beds with mattresses. The camp was divided into eight units. Its existence was revealed to the Associated Press in 2013.
In it's, thus far, 14 years of existance, there have been 779 men brought to Gitmo. During this time, eight men have been found dead. According to the Department of Defense(DoD), six were suicides, although I found information on only three, and no information on the other two. June 10, 2006; three detainees were found dead. They had hung themselves with bed sheets. The prisoners were the Saudi Arabians; Mani al-Utaybi and Yasser al-Zahrani, and a Yemeni citizen; Ali Abdullah Ahmed. Rear Admiral Harry Harris stated that these were not acts of desperation, but rather an act of asymmetric war committed against us. Suicide attempts have been much more numerous, during August 2003, there were 23 suicide attempts. After this event, the Pentagon reclassified suicides as "manipulative self-injurious behaviors"; camp physicians alleged that detainees do not genuinely wish to end their lives. Guantanamo Bay officials have reported 41, unsuccessful, suicide attempts by 25 detainees since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002.
In more recent history, we have heard about the allegations of torture within the facility. These allegations include; Exposure to loud music, exposure to prolonged extreme temperatures, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, humiliation, prolonged constraint in uncomfortable positions, 12 hour interrogations and a report that a 'Behavioral Science Consultation Team'(BSCT), also known as Biscuit, and military physicians provided confidential medical information on detainees(weaknesses, phobias, etc.) to the interrogation teams, resulting in detainees losing confidence in their medical care, and so on.
Recently, November of 2015, President Obama announced he is sending a plan to Congress to close Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. His plan includes not only shutting down the prison, where the worst of the world's terrorists are housed, but transfers many of the remaining detainees to the United States. President Obama's plan is, basically, as follows;
[-91 prisoners are still detained at Guantanamo Bay, all indefinitely, until the United States can resolve their legal status and transfer them elsewhere.
-35 will be transferred to foreign countries: The Obama administration is empowered to transfer prisoners to another country, where they will be monitored, provided the Department of Defense and other relevant agencies deem it safe. According to the plan, "35 have been determined to be eligible for transfer by relevant national security departments and agencies." It doesn't say whether the US has found countries to accept them, though.
-10 are in the military trial process: The administration is also permitted to try Guantanamo detainees in special military courts. "Three active cases involving seven accused are in the pretrial phase," the plan says, while three detainees have pleaded guilty and are currently being sentenced. Convicted detainees could potentially be transferred to another country's prison and, if they've already served their sentences, released to another country.
-22 are earmarked for tribunal or US domestic trial: The US government believes this group of inmates can successfully and safely be tried in court, and would like to prosecute them — ideally in civil rather than military courts, but Congress has made that difficult (*which I will define below).
-The remaining 34 are TBD(to be determined): The Obama administration isn't sure what it would do with these cases, but lists a few options: eventually clearing them for release or for trial, transferring them to a foreign country for a trial there, or transferring them to a specially designed U.S. prison for continued indefinite detention. That U.S. prison is also TBD.]
*Why does it seem the Guantanamo Bay plan is so vague: Congress has almost totally tied the administration's hands. It is currently illegal, under United States law, to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the United States for trial, bringing htem to or holding them in a facility on U.S. soil, use federal funds to prosecute them in civil court or from using any federal funds to build or modify a facility to hold those detainees.
On January 7 of 2011, President Barrack Obama signed the 2011 Defense Authorization Bill. Which, in part, made the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to mainland American soil, illegal or unlawful. This has been recently confirmed by the current United States Attorney General, Loretta Lynch. “That is the state of the law,” Lynch testified in a House Appropriations subcommittee. “It’s certain that we would be prohibited from doing so. I’m not aware of any efforts to do so at this time, in any event.” (Did you catch that?)
A statement from House Speaker, Paul Ryan, "After seven years, President Obama has yet to convince the American people that moving Guantanamo terrorists to our homeland is smart or safe. And he doesn’t seem interested in continuing to try. His proposal fails to provide critical details required by law, including the exact cost and location of an alternate detention facility. Congress has left no room for confusion. It is against the law—and it will stay against the law—to transfer terrorist detainees to American soil. We will not jeopardize our national security over a campaign promise.”
In addition, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said Tuesday that it was little surprise that Obama made his announcement, as it's been his "goal from day one" to close Gitmo. "The fact that he's willing to do it in violation of an explicit law probably means two things," said Issa. "One, he has very little to lose in his opinion. He doesn't believe the American people will impeach him, and with the death of Justice [Antonin] Scalia, he might view that the Supreme Court will back him by a 4-4 decision, the liberals letting him do it even if it's a clear violation of the law."
