Editorial: Time to Close Guantanamo

The decision to turn the U.S. military base in Guantanamo, Cuba into a prison came in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, as an alternative to hold people arrested during the invasion of Afghanistan. The idea was to keep detainees held in legal limbo indefinitely, to keep the “worst of the worst” away, in the words of then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

In reality, of the 800 detainees who have been imprisoned there since 2002, very few were really dangerous, or were suspected of having played a role in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. A number of them turned out to be victims of local people who, for some reason, marked them as enemies. Of the 91 people still held in the camp today, only a few are actual terrorists who have been tried or are in the process of being judged by military commissions.

President Barack Obama is right in his intention to close the base, transfer the most dangerous convicted detainees to maximum security prisons and process those who still have not been seen by a judge ‒ as happened with Richard Reed, who received a life sentence for attempting to detonate a bomb hidden in his shoe while on an airplane ‒. The Guantanamo detention center is unnecessary, not to mention that its illegal condition taints the reputation of the U.S. around the world.

Shutting down Guantanamo was one of Obama’s campaign promises in 2008. Until yesterday, the President had failed to present a proposal to close it acknowledging a lack of consensus. However, the chance of reaching an agreement today is even slimmer, as Republicans dominating Congress will oppose the Pentagon’s plan, and the threat of terrorism is more present than it was before.

The main objection is a claim that transferring detainees to the mainland will put the security of the U.S. at risk. Still, the country has a history of effectively judging, sentencing and holding the most dangerous criminals and terrorists. Despite this, Congress and the current GOP presidential campaigns are exploiting fear by taking a real threat out of proportion and inventing nonexistent vulnerabilities.

Closing Guantanamo is an act of common sense requiring a level of courage that, unfortunately, is scarce in today’s political debate.