Guantanamo Bay is located on the southeast coast of the island of Cuba, but it has been controlled by the United States since the 1898 Spanish American War. The controversy around the Guantanamo Bay facility started in 2002 when it became an imprisonment facility for suspected terrorists captured in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, in the name of the war on terror[1].
There is nothing about Guantanamo Bay that is not controversial. Guantanamo Bay is a clear breach of international law, its inhumane treatment of prisoners contradicts the core values of the United States of America, and its methods have not even been proven to stop the terror.
"I am unequivocally innocent. In the last ten years, I have yet to see any evidence against me. Ten years, [I have been] in an animal cage without being charged and without standing any trial." [1]
This quote, from an Al-Jazeera interview of a former detainee highlights the horrors of Guantanamo Bay.
This quote, from an Al-Jazeera interview of a former detainee highlights the horrors of Guantanamo Bay.
“The operation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a flagrant violation of international law. The torture practiced in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and the indefinite detention there are violations of international law.”[1]
[1] “Al-Jazeera Programme Discussion Challenges Facing Plans to Close Guantanamo,” Al-Jazeera, February 20, 2013, http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/.
The war on terror and the creation of Guantanamo Bay were seen by Bush and his administration as, “rid[ding] the world of evil-doers, in a battle between good and evil. Explicit comparisons were made between al-Qaeda and the Nazis. The US was justified in its policies, because it was "the greatest force for good on this earth" (Bush, September 2, 2004). “[1]
[1] Ibid.,