In the News

Guantanamo Bay is in the news again, for two different reasons. Firstly, I saw this story: http://www.kcbs.com/pages/5669356.php? on the CBS Evening News on Friday. The big story is that the U.S. government has chosen to hold trials for “9/11 mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorists associated with the September 11 World Trade Center attacks in New York City just blocks from the former site of the two towers, instead of trying them in a military court.

Of course there are many people against this decision citing issues of national security, but some objections are not so much out of concern for the safety of American citizens but for the protection of government procedures employed while the men were detained in Gitmo. The article does not identify who has voiced these concerns, but it does state that trial in a civilian court may force the court to deal with issues surrounding “interrogation techniques” used on the prisoners including waterboarding, which was used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a total of 183 times. Is this a legitimate concern? What I mean by that is, does the U.S. government, by trying these terrorists in a civilian court, run the risk of exposing itself and its controversial practices? Could this possibly lead to somehow putting torture on trial, and a reinvigoration of anti-torture lobbying?

In a similar vein, the article quotes some civilians who lost loved ones on 9/11/2001 who are against a civilian trial because the defense attorneys could make their clients out to be “victims” of our system and induce sympathy for the terrorists. Personally, I don’t think any jury of American citizens would sympathize with the orchestrators of the 9/11 attacks, so this concern is moot. But, considering our discussions in class these past two weeks, should we consider the terrorists who have possibly experienced the worst forms of torture over the course of the past few years “victims” of the American system?

Secondly, this issue has come to light today: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/15/illinois.next.gitmo/index.html and as I type this, I am watching this story further unfold on CNN. A mostly empty maximum security prison in Illinois, Thomson Correctional Center, has been identified as the most likely new home for current detainees in Guantanamo Bay. While I think the main issue discussed here is the ramifications that housing the prisoners there would have for the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois, I think the big picture is more important.

President Obama has pledged for a while now that he would close Guantanamo Bay; the deadline was originally set for January 22, 2010, but it has been suspected for a while now that the deadline would not be met. I think this initiative, to locate an adequate alternative facility for Gitmo’s current prisoners, is a step in the right direction, and it also assuages the doubt that the Obama administration is actually working to achieve its stated goal. While there is no guarantee that abhorrent practices such as torture will cease once the detainees are relocated, there is hope that our government is working to right the inadmissible wrongs committed in the name of national security.