Guantanamo Must Go

Detainees hunker down inside the barbed wire fences
of Guantanamo

Perhaps you've heard something in the news about Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Perhaps you've heard about the controversies surrounding this place, one of the most notorious and expensive prisons in the world.

In September of 2012 it celebrated its eleventh birthday. It's growing up fast, but the situation is only growing bleaker for the 171 detainees still left in legal limbo behind the prison's high security bars.

During not one of Guantanamo's eleven years in business have human rights laws been followed. Prisoners were snatched off civilian streets when the terrorist craze after 9/11 hit the U.S. A 15-year old Canadian boy was captured and detained for 8 years without being formally charged, and was finally let go in 2009. An 89-year old Afghan man with senile dementia was captured and held. Out of a whopping 799 total detainees, only six have been convicted.

The rest wait in limbo as each day passes without hope for a fair trial. Many prisoners haven't been allowed to contact their families or lawyers. Torture techniques such as water-boarding, sleep deprivation, starvation, stress positions, thumb-screws, and drugs have all been used to draw out confessions or information that, ultimately, have proved useless due to the questionable ways in which they were gotten.

The U.S. Congress has not been helpful in getting Guantanamo closed. In fact, Congress recently signed a bill in mid December forbidding Obama to transfer detainees to U.S. prisons where they could receive more attention and rights. This is not progress. Obama has conveyed again and again his desire to close the prison, but Congress has thwarted his efforts along the way.

I wrote a detailed article about why Guantanamo should be closed, and it takes into account what I've explained here, but goes into even more atrocities that I don't have room for here. I'm planning on sending the article to a major newspaper. Next I developed a petition using change.org so that I could present Congress with a (hopefully) substantial list of people who also want Guantanamo shut down. Here is the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-congress-shut-down-guantanamo-bay-prison-once-and-for-all-2 

Please sign the petition and share it! This is a big problem that not only hurts the individual detainees, but also every American who must now suffer the consequences of a marred reputation due to their country's behavior. In this day and age, people like me shouldn't have to be fighting constantly for the human rights of others--rights are not privileges! They are automatic and indisputable. Help me remind Congress of that.


If you want some more information, go to Amnesty International's watch of the latest Guantanamo news: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/guant-namo-10-years-human-wrongs-2012-11-01

Thank you!