The Guantanamo Prison: Useful or Outdated?

[Dale]

Does housing terrorists or terrorist suspects in a prison at the American base at Guantanamo serve the national interests of the US? At one time hundreds of prisoners were housed there but now there are only a few dozen.


"Moreover, the military assigns 2,000 soldiers to guard the 41 Guantanamo prisoners, an unconscionably wasteful use of scarce personnel. The ratio of Guantanamo guards to prisoners is more than 48 to 1, while in the federal prison system it is about five prisoners to one guard."


This is very inefficient. Moving the prisoners to mainland prisons could free up a couple of thousand soldiers for other duties.


Source
How Trump Just Might Close Guantanamo Prison

 

[DennisTate]

Word has it that it is going to be extremely useful within a few months.

 

[jmldn2]

Does housing terrorists or terrorist suspects in a prison at the American base at Guantanamo serve the national interests of the US? At one time hundreds of prisoners were housed there but now there are only a few dozen.


"Moreover, the military assigns 2,000 soldiers to guard the 41 Guantanamo prisoners, an unconscionably wasteful use of scarce personnel. The ratio of Guantanamo guards to prisoners is more than 48 to 1, while in the federal prison system it is about five prisoners to one guard."


This is very inefficient. Moving the prisoners to mainland prisons could free up a couple of thousand soldiers for other duties.


Source
How Trump Just Might Close Guantanamo Prison

I believe Guantanamo Prison should be kept as is and that more should be placed there.

 

[Dale]

Word has it that it is going to be extremely useful within a few months.

Dennis Tate,

This Youtube video presents are series of very bizarre conspiracy theories. It claims that both George H. W. Bush and John McCain were executed by the Trump administration, for starters. There are no witnesses, no facts here. Why do you take it seriously?

 

[DennisTate]

Dennis Tate,

This Youtube video presents are series of very bizarre conspiracy theories. It claims that both George H. W. Bush and John McCain were executed by the Trump administration, for starters. There are no witnesses, no facts here. Why do you take it seriously?

Partly because I read the Mark Taylor predictions and this sure sounds like the beginning of something he predicted.

Partly because Isaiah 45 has to come to pass and this does indeed sound like the time for:

Isaiah 45

I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith Jehovah of hosts.

 

[John Bowen]

It a modern day Tower of London it goes against everything this America was founded on like due process.

 

[JackRT]

I think that the USA would do well to close down its base there and return the land to Cuba.

 

[jmldn2]

It a modern day Tower of London it goes against everything this America was founded on like due process.

It is a prison for terrorists and if you want to claim it a Tower of London then do so. Terrorists do not need the regular "due process." They need a military tribunal

 

[Albion]

If the ratio of guards to prisoners is 48 to 1, and this is considered excessive, then reducing the ratio to, say, 20 to 1 might be in order, that's all.

By the way, after World War II, a full compliment of guards from four different nations and an entire prison were given over to guarding seven prisoners and it continued after there was only a single one (Rudolf Hess) left, so there is nothing special in the matter of Gitmo.

 

[John Bowen]

We hold these truths to be self - evident that All Men endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . The government doesn't want to have trials because it would expose where these guys came from who's funding them .

 

[jmldn2]

We hold these truths to be self - evident that All Men endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . The government doesn't want to have trials because it would expose where these guys came from who's funding them .

Our enemies are not endowed to unalienable rights.

 

[Dale]

I believe Guantanamo Prison should be kept as is and that more should be placed there.

I don't have much sympathy for terrorists either. I do wonder how we know that the people who wound up at Guantanamo are terrorists, since the evidence is classified. Also, the Bush Administration made use of waterboarding, a form of torture, and I have no confidence in torture as a source of information.

As best I remember, the Bush Administration put forward a strange rationale for holding terrorists at Guantanamo. Lawyers in the Bush Administration argued that because Guantanamo isn't in the US, then the Constitution doesn't protect prisoners held there. This is a foolish rationale, it can't be sustained. Wherever members of the US military go, American law goes with them. If you are a Captain in the Marines, when you go to Guantanamo, you don't become "Mr." instead of "Captain." As far as I can tell, the Bush Administration put foreign terror suspects in Guantanamo for all the wrong reasons.

 

[jmldn2]

I don't have much sympathy for terrorists either. I do wonder how we know that the people who wound up at Guantanamo are terrorists, since the evidence is classified. Also, the Bush Administration made use of waterboarding, a form of torture, and I have no confidence in torture as a source of information.

As best I remember, the Bush Administration put forward a strange rationale for holding terrorists at Guantanamo. Lawyers in the Bush Administration argued that because Guantanamo isn't in the US, then the Constitution doesn't protect prisoners held there. This is a foolish rationale, it can't be sustained. Wherever members of the US military go, American law goes with them. If you are a Captain in the Marines, when you go to Guantanamo, you don't become "Mr." instead of "Captain." As far as I can tell, the Bush Administration put foreign terror suspects in Guantanamo for all the wrong reasons.

I'll have to disagree with your analogy of Bush putting terrorists in Guantanamo. These are terrorists and what better place to put them in. Military law is how they should be tried as far as I am concerned. Still remember Obama trading terrorists (who went right back to fighting) for one single traitor.

 

[jgarden]

It is a prison for terrorists and if you want to claim it a Tower of London then do so. Terrorists do not need the regular "due process." They need a military tribunal

Given that America claims to have a democratic system far superior to that exposed by "terrorists," why would it be so eager to dispense with "due process," and stoop to their level?

 

[Arcangl86]

No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law. Gitmo is against the Constitution.

 

[JackRT]

I suspect that Gitmo was chosen because it is not technically part of the USA. It is a long term lease from Cuba. Does the constitution apply in Gitmo?

 

[Dale]

I suspect that Gitmo was chosen because it is not technically part of the USA. It is a long term lease from Cuba. Does the constitution apply in Gitmo?

Of course the Constitution applies. Wherever American troops go, US law goes with them and applies to what they do.

 

[JackRT]

Of course the Constitution applies. Wherever American troops go, US law goes with them and applies to what they do.

That sounds real good ---- in theory.

 

[RDKirk]

I suspect that Gitmo was chosen because it is not technically part of the USA. It is a long term lease from Cuba. Does the constitution apply in Gitmo?

Yes it does, because if the Constitution does not apply, then neither does our oath and neither does the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Both require the Constitution. If there is no Constitution, then the oath is invalid and the UCMJ does not apply. All three follow us wherever we are posted.

 

[RDKirk]

That sounds real good ---- in theory.

It's not theory, it's force of law. If a soldier breaks the law on Gitmo, he's tried by an American court-martial. If a US civilian breaks the law on Gitmo, he's tried by an American federal court.