GUANTANAMO BAY

Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay Prison

In the aftermath of September 11 2001, in order to protect American citizens from any further terrorist attacks, a Presidential military order gave the Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency the power to kidnap and detain anyone suspected of a connection to terrorists or terrorism and to classify them as enemy combatants. This status meant they could not be tried in our regular federal courts. The “enemy combatants” were taken to secret prisons around the world where information could be obtained by any means necessary without any outside interference. The prison which has caught the most public attention is the one located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Senior counter terrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch, Jennifer Daskal said, “Over 200 detainees who have not even been charged with a crime are being warehoused in conditions that are in many ways harsher than those reserved for the most dangerous, convicted criminals in the United States.” The Bush Administration has called these prisoners, “the worst of the worst.” Men and children suspected of terrorist connections have been there for more than six years and many don't even know why they were detained in the first place. Many claim they unfortunately were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The system the Bush Administration has put in place is not a fair trial system. The Combatant Status Review Tribunal's are military commissions specially designed to try the detainees. Strong evidence shows these particular commissions are corrupt and ultimately ineffective for these three key reasons: They permit the use of “coerced information” or information obtained through the torturing the defendant; the violation of the detainees right to counsel; and the political pressure placed upon the trials by the Executive Branch of the United States government.

The greatest injustice present in the tribunals ...