On the Media- Guantanamo

One the Media- "What Guantanamo Means to the American Public and for Jihadists."

If only right and wrong were black on white.  This disturbing podcast is a tough mess to unwind.  After 911 many different unfortunate changes took place in our country, this detention camp located with in the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is on of these changes.  The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, also called Guantanamo or GTMO (pronounced  gitmo) was established in 2002 to detain extraordinarily dangerous people to interrogate and prosecute for war crimes.

The camp because it is in Cuba is considered outside US legal jurisdiction and as a result abuse and torture are reported.  Off the bat my personal moral feelings say that this is wrong and that no human being should be treated this way.  And that is not to make mention of one of the most sacred principles in the American criminal justice system, holding that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. In other words, the prosecution must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, each essential element of the crime charged.

What if torturing one criminal could stop another attack of innocent American lives and prevent another 911?  Then is it justified?  If it means saving thousands of Innocent Men Women and children form another brutal attack is it Ok then?  I just don't know. It seems so simple in an episode of "24"   
where Jack Bauer (a fictional character) a member of the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) frequent use of torture to gather information has generated much controversy and discussion. I would find myself siding with him every time when emotional involved in the story line. One problem with this was that Jack Bauer haunch was always right.  What happens when the system is wrong and an innocent person is detained tortured and abused? 

In 2006 the United Nations called the camp to be closed, but it remains open to this day.  As of January 2016  93 detainees remain in GTMO. Obama has been pushing to close the camp and move the detainees to to main land.  Republican Nominees like Mark Rubio are pushing to keep it open.  Some fear that even if the camp is shut down and moved to the mainland, that the same inhumane practices will continue.  The George Bush doctrine was "forever prisoner of a forever war"  this thought process will not change anything wrong happening in GTMO other then the location. 

Some of the detainees have been detained for 35 years and still never charged, but are tortured and treated as if they are guilty.  Obama believes that GTMO is counterproductive and that the Jihadis use the camp as propaganda to recruit for their cause.  Isis has made mention of GTMO as did Osama Bin Laden.  Joe Biden claims that GTMO is the single greatest propaganda tool used for recruiting, and thus pushes his argument for closing down this camp. This may not be a strong argument for shutting down the camps alone.  In a 700 page declaration put out by ISIS the word Guantanamo was only mentioned 4 times.  where words like Zionism and crusade was mentioned 387 times. The Jihadist in fact use so very many platforms to evoke anger towards Americans such as global warming, alcohol, gambling, using and objectifying women for advertising, large corporations, deceitful media, breaking up of families, spreading obscenities, cluster bombs, Afghanistan, Iraq etc.  If GTMO is a tool to criticize Americas it is in a tool bag with countless other tools or complaints to criticize and evoke hatred toward Americans.  

 I feel more important then GTMO being counterproductive, which is arguable, a more decent and lawful and humane reason to shut down GTMO is to uphold the principles on which this country was established; Democracy, respect, ethical, honorable, lawful, and upright, decent and humane are the words in which I would like our country to be associated.  If the United Nations is against GTMo then that is a sad indicator of how low our country has gone.  Yes you could say that there is a chance that a future attack may take place because people were not abused and tortured that have not been proven guilty), but I would rather suffer and be upright then cling to false security and be the torturing abusing monster.  What good is protecting this great country if you become a monster like the enemies you are protecting it from?