Closing GITMO

Now that the election is over, many are looking to the president-elect Obama, hopeful that he will be a strong voice for human rights. Many political observers are debating whether and how Obama will close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. (It's important to note the distinction between teh detention camp and the Naval Base. Most discussion simply uses the general term GITMO or Guantanamo Bay, but is in fact just referring to the detention camp.)

Politico's Arena has an excellent discussion on the topic. Most of my thoughts here are reflective of various opinions from that discussion.

Advocates have diverging plans, most with the same one or two goals. Those goals are protecting the rights of prisoners and the United States setting an example and sending a message to the rest of the world.

The violation of rights lies in the disrespect for due process that has been given the prisoners. While many of them may be dangerous, just as dangerous is the prospect of allowing a government to imprison a person without giving them a fair hearing. Furthermore, others argue that fair trials will excuse too much evidence, as if the rules are simply meant to be prohibitive for the sake of obstructing prosecutors. Rather, the case for not admitting much of this evidence is that it is unreliable. I've noted before, information gained from torture techniques, such as waterboarding, cannot be counted upon, and hinders further interrogations. So, protecting the rights of prisoners gives everyone a better degree of safety, from strengthening rule of law for when we need it applied to us and from improving our intelligence.

The second reason to close Guantanamo is the message we send to the world. First of all, many countries have begun to look upon America with less respect, especially in light of the
treatment of Guantanamo detainees, among other human rights violations. Closing Guantanamo
will help us improve relationships with the world at large and strengthen our alliances. Second, we can make a stronger claim to the moral high ground and use this to pressure other governments to improve their human rights situations. Finally, respecting the rights of the prisoners ensures greater safety for any of our soldiers who are taken prisoner.

I hope this has adequately addressed the "whether we should" question of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. I'll make another post soon on how that might be done.