Obama Shutters Gitmo

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright January 23, 2009
All Rights Reserved.                    

           Signing the order to close Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, President Barack Obama fulfilled a campaign promise to end a blight on U.S. foreign policy.  Since the start of the Afghan War Oct. 7, 2001, battlefield detainees have been taken to Guantanamo Bay, a former clearinghouse for Cuban and Haitian refugees.  Six months of feverish construction completed Camp Delta April 2002, a 612-bed maximum security prison designed to house terrorists captured fighting al-Qaida and the Taliban.  Placing prisoners at Guantanamo allowed White House lawyers, especially former Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales, to define “illegal combatants” or “battlefield detainees,” skirting the Geneva Convention, granting prisoners of war certain rights and privileges.  Despite claims of proper treatment, Gunatanamo symbolized an American Gulag, where prisoners had no rights at all.

            President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld argued Guantanamo was needed to (a) restrain, without limits, dangerous terrorists and (b) perform vigorous interrogations to glean life-saving intelligence.  Until their last days in office, Bush and Cheney insisted that controversial interrogation techniques, including “waterboarding,” considered torture by ex-Vietnam POW and former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), were necessary to the war on terror.  They urged Barack to leave Guantanamo and controversial interrogation techniques in place.  It took two days in office before Barack issued the executive order to shutter the controversial Cuban-based prison.  He did so to end what has become a public relations disaster for the U.S. government, causing harm to the war on terror.

            GOP members of Congress weren’t happy with Obama’s decision to close the controversial prison.  They question what the U.S. can do with dangerous terrorists seeking any opportunity to harm the U.S. Recent reports of a 35-year-old Saudi Gitmo prioner, named al-Shihri, released in November 2007, indicate he’s rejoined al-Qaida cells in Yemen, a breeding ground for terrorists and the site of a suicide attack in 2000 on the U.S.S. Cole where 17 sailors lost their lives.  Al-Shihri reportedly told Yemen journalist Abdelela Shayie that other Gitmo prisoners had joined al-Qaida terror cells in Yemen.  Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, criticized Obama’s decision to close Guanatanamo, saying it was “very short on specifics.”  Bush and Cheney believed keeping Gitmo’s unsavory characters locked up helped U.S. national security. 

              Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), the head of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence, doesn’t think that the release of Gitmo detainees threatens U.S. national security.  She sees keeping Gitmo open far more damaging to U.S. foreign policy and national security.  “The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly and we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals,” said Obama, giving the rationale for closing the offshore prison.  Gitmo gave a black eye to U.S. credibility, trying to justify controversial interrogations and indefinite confinements, something running afoul with the Constitution, Geneva Convention and principles of humane treatment.

              Bush’s White House fought fiercely to allow “waterboarding,” a controversial interrogation technique regarded as torture by public consensus, including former POWs like McCain.  Obama wants the CIA, or any other civilian or military group, to abide by the Army Field Manual that expressly forbids waterboarding and other controversial interrogation techniques.  When the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal broke in 2004, it damaged U.S. credibility prosecuting the Iraq War.  More questions were raised about Gitmo, where Sept. 11 terror suspects Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Abu Zabaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded to extract information.  Bush and Cheney insist that the U.S. obtained life-saving intel, foiling future terror plots.  Obama and others don’t believe the U.S. obtained actionable intel from enhanced interrogation techniques.

            Obama made a decisive statement about the direction of the U.S. foreign policy closing down Gitmo.  Since 2002, Gitmo has been a blight on the U.S. war on terror, creating more sympathy for terrorists in the court of world opinion.  While closing Gitmo presents some logistical issues, the vast U.S. federal prison system has sufficient capacity to accommodate dangerous terrorists before they’re eventually repatriated or deported.  “We believe that the Army Field Manual reflects the best judgment of our military, that we can abide by a rule that says we don’t torture, but that we can still effectively obtain the intelligence we need,” said Barack, rejecting the old definition of torture and argument that the U.S. can’t obtain actionable intelligence unless using enhanced interrogation techniques.  Closing Gitmo helps the U.S. reclaim its moral authority in the war on terror. 

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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