Opinion | Editorials
Guantanamo - a camp for propaganda
Allegations by a former prosecutor prove the jail is a disgrace and an insult to justice
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:30 May 1, 2008
Allegations by a former Guantanamo prosecutor that his work was hindered by political pressure and Pentagon officials desperate to push anything of propaganda value are hardly surprising. The camp has been an insult to justice and has done extensive damage to America's international reputation. On top of this, it plainly does not work.
Nearly 500 men have been released from Guantanamo since it was opened in 2002. This is quite surprising considering all of them were deemed by the US administration as the "worst of the worst".
Guantanamo's best-known prisoner, David Hicks, was finally freed in his native Australia. In May 2007, Hicks entered a plea bargain and became the first prisoner to be convicted in Guantanamo. He was given a custodial sentence of only nine months - which he served out in his home town, Adelaide. About 275 others remain in custody without charge or trial.
A number of eminent American politicians have called the centre, located in a corner of a communist country beyond the reach of American law, to be closed. The former US secretary of state, Colin Powell, said: "I would close Guantanamo not tomorrow but this afternoon."
Even US President George W. Bush said: "I would like to close the camp," a view not surprisingly echoed by presidential hopeful Barack Obama who has pledged "to close Guantanamo. And we're going to restore habeas corpus. We're going to lead by example, by not just word''.
But still it remains open, an act of defiance not just against the law and humanity but logic as well. The orange jumpsuits, the cowed prisoners, the lawlessness of the place, has cost Washington so much and given so little in the campaign against those who advocate terror and mayhem. Guantanamo is a disgrace that contradicts everything that America should stand for.
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