Wheel Column: 'A Symbol of Injustice'

Why Sooner is Better for the Closure of the Guantanamo Bay Base

In the American justice system, every person who is brought into the system is guaranteed humane and fair treatment. Trials are held, during which a defendant is judged by a jury of his or her peers. The defendant has the right to a fair trial, due process and the writ of habeas corpus. While our justice system isn't perfect, it is generally regarded as a fair and effective solution for trying those of us who have been charged with crimes. Our justice system is an important part of our American identity.

Yet there is one component of the American criminal justice system which is simply un-American. The detention center at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba makes a mockery of justice, and its very existence is a danger for all Americans. President Bush needs to close it immediately.

Many, if not all, of the "enemy combatants" held at Guantánamo Bay are guilty of terrorism-related charges. These are not good people, and I am not arguing that the American military just set them free. But in order to legitimize their detainment, it is essential that these people receive a fair and speedy trial. That is not going to happen at Guantánamo Bay.

So why are we keeping these people at Guantánamo Bay anyway? Why did President Bush decide to hold alleged terrorists at a naval base in Cuba? It's simple. Since Guantánamo Bay is outside the United States, they are denied the basic rights afforded to everyone who is arrested. The Bush administration is using a technicality of location to subvert the American justice system and deny these prisoners their basic human rights.

If, as Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said, "a civilization will be judged by how it treats its wrongdoers," then what will history have to say about us? Holding prisoners at Guantánamo without charges for an indefinite period of time - subjecting them to sub-par living conditions at best and torture at worst - does not reflect well on the United States.

If these people at Guantánamo are really as terrible as the Bush administration makes them out to be - and I have no doubt many of them are - then they would easily be found guilty through normal military or civilian courts. Even suspected terrorists have the right to be considered innocent until found guilty. We have terrorism laws on the books; why not use these laws to try the Guantánamo detainees?

Basically, because the Bush administration has a number of problems with putting the prisoners in Guantánamo on trial before an actual court of law.

First of all, evidence obtained by torture cannot be used in military or civilian courts. Secondly, a fair trial would mean the suspects would be entitled to lawyers, lawyers who could protest the treatment of their clients at the hands of the U.S. government and be sure of being heard. But perhaps most troubling to the administration is that these suspects would be given the rights normally afforded to an American suspect.

Fair trials have no place at Guantánamo. A military commission has been set up that tries people in secret without due process or other necessities of the legal system. Even worse, there has only been one trial since 2002.

Approximately 775 detainees have been brought to Guantánamo since the base opened its detainment camp in 2002. 340 of those have already been released, while another 110 prisoners have been labeled "ready for release."

All in all, about 70 prisoners will be tried before this laughable military commission and another 250 will be held indefinitely without trial. That's not the American way. If they really are guilty, they should be tried and convicted quickly. Then they can be sentenced to prison or executed.

Guantánamo Bay is a danger to Americans. Terrorists use the detention center and the torture that takes place there as propaganda to recruit more fighters to attack the United States and its troops abroad. Guantánamo Bay turns people who may otherwise have no reason to hate America against the United States.

Guantánamo also undermines America's commitment to human rights. Numerous countries and NGOs criticize the United States for Guantánamo and the abuses that take place there. Amnesty International calls the detention center, "a symbol of injustice and abuse."

They claim the detainees at the center are "Denied their rights under international law and held in conditions which may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the detainees face severe psychological distress."

How can we condemn Iran or Saudi Arabia for their human rights records when we're guilty of the same crimes?

We are the United States of America, a country founded on equality of law and the inalienable rights of man. We have a duty to uphold the highest standards of equality and democracy.

Several nations, including our ally Great Britain, have spoken out against Guantánamo Bay and made it clear that they wish for the detention center to be closed. The European Union and the UN Committee Against Torture want it closed. Even new defense secretary Robert Gates wants it closed.

But we all know that President Bush is stubborn. He and his administration haven't exactly shown a proclivity to alter their strategies, even when those strategies are clearly failing. While Bush has said he would like to see Guantánamo Bay closed, he argues it cannot be anytime soon.

Bush is wrong. The future is no place for Guantánamo Bay. It should have been closed yesterday.

Benjamin Van der Horst is a College sophomore from Cincinnati. He is executive director of the nonpartisan political organization CSAmerica and the managing editor of the Emory Political Review.

This ran on 4/13/07.