Guantánamo Bay Detention Centre By: Thomas McShane

Where is Guantánamo Bay  Guantánamo Bay is on the South-East coast, on the island of Cuba.

What is Guantánamo Bay  Guantánamo Bay detention camp is a cooperative military prison and detention camp under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantánamo.  The prison, established at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, holds people accused by the U.S. Government of being terrorist operatives, as well as those no longer considered suspects who are being held pending relocation elsewhere.

How did Guantánamo Bay come to be The island of Cuba was thrown back and forth between countries. Such as Spain, England, and the U.S.. The U.S. attained it from Spain in the Spanish-American war during the late 1800’s. Then President William McKinley took control over the area in 1898, and 5 years later, President Theodore Roosevelt signed a deal with the Cuban government to lease the Guantánamo Bay area to the U.S. for a naval base. Since then they have added 3 detention centers and other naval, and military type offices.

Detainees Since the beginning of the War in Afghanistan, 775 detainees have been brought to Guantánamo, approximately 420 of which have been released. Most people brought to Git-Mo do not go to trial for the reasons they are brought there. It seems as though they are wiped of the face of the earth for a few years, and then released. As of August 09, 2007, approximately 355 detainees remain. 20% have been cleared to be released but have no other prison to go to. (The wait could be just months, or possibly even years) U.S. officials said they intend to eventually put 60 to 80 on trial and free the rest.

Conditions Prisoners are held in small mesh-sided cells, and lights are kept on day and night. Detainees have rations similar to those of US forces, with consideration for Muslim dietary needs. However, many of the detainees have been denied access to the Koran for daily prayer. prisoners released from the camp have alleged that abuse of religion included flushing the Qur'an down the toilet, defacing the Qur'an, writing comments and remarks on the Qur'an, tearing pages out of the Qur'an and denying detainees a copy of the Qur'an. Detainees are kept in isolation most of the day, are blindfolded when moving within the camp and forbidden to talk in groups of more than three.

Controversy: What is torture Today, the U.S. Government uses Guantánamo Bay as a detainment centre for Terrorists. They claim that they use only humane means to gain intelligence and get confessions. Forces are used such as whippings, slashings, and plain old beatings. There is a couple special ways in which they especially like to get information, isolation, and water boarding. The U.S. Government believes that these means are humane and are not considered torture. The Bush administration justifies their means by saying that the Third Geneva Convention does not apply to Al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters, since the Geneva convention only applies to uniformed soldiers of a recognized government.

Torture "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions."

Questions Do you feel that the excuse given by the U.S. Government is good enough to keep letting them “Torture” and hold people there for no reason? Do you feel Guantánamo Bay should be closed and the area given back to Cuba, or the U.S. should keep the base, but have strict monitoring on it to be sure there are no human rights violations.

Videos This video demonstrates what “Water Boarding” is. Different “Water Boarding” techniques. GcXl1y_mQw&feature=related This video shows that the U.S. Government is trying to avoid telling whether or not “Water Boarding” is torture.