On Tuesday
Barack Obama, President of the
United States of America, renewed his promise to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
The camp opened in 2002 as a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States to hold detainees it had determined to be connected with terrorism. As of March 2013 there remain 166 detainees remain in the camp. Approximately 100 of the detainees are currently taking part in a hunger strike protesting against being detained for years on end without being charged or put on trial and under conditions and with treatment that would be totally unacceptable if the camp was located on the U.S. mainland.
The president said he was going to raise the matter in Congress again, which I am sorry to say I do not understand.
The matter of releasing detainees, who aren't going to be charged or put to trial, cannot be a political decision but must rather be an administrative one, i.e. for the president himself or the Departments of Justice or Defense or agencies under those department to decide.
As those who have read this blog before already know I am an adamant supporter of president Obama in particular and the U.S.A. in general, the camp at Guantanamo and the conditions for the detainees are really one of my few major objections
Justice delayed is justice denied, which is not worthy of the United States or president Obama. Guantanamo Bay is a sordid stain on the American flag and a blemish on the International reputation of the United States, president Obama himself and his administration. So please Mr. President, shut the camp down and release the detainees or charge them and give them a fair trial as soon as possible. Justice has been delayed too long already.
