Guantanamo Bay: A Wound We Won't Let Heal
When I think of the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, now exactly 10 years old, I think of Mustafa Ait Idr. He was one of the hundreds of men who were rounded up and detained at Gitmo in the months following the terror attacks on America and who were later released out of political convenience or because the evidence against them was not credible or was simply non-existent. As America observes this dubious anniversary -- a wound we still refuse to allow ourselves to close -- men like Idr deserve to have their stories retold.
Captured by American forces in January 2002 and suspected of ties to Al Qaeda, Idr spent nearly seven years at Gitmo before he was released back to his native Bosnia in December 2008. The only reason I know his story, and remember it today, is because of U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green. In January 2005, she highlighted the absurdity of the government's treatment of Idr. Memorably, she quoted at length from the transcript of Idr's interrogation during his Combat Status Review Tribunal. Here is the transcript of the session.
more: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/01/guantanamo-bay-a-wound-we-wont-let-heal/251166/?google_editors_picks=true
gateley
(62,683 posts)Obama signed authorization to close GTMO shortly after taking office, right? Then there was so much resistance about bringing suspected terrorists to our "neighborhoods", it was unable to be implemented.
Fade to black.
It doesn't have to be either/or, does it? It's my understanding (very possibly incorrect) that these people are essentially dumped into GTMO and the key is thrown away. Couldn't there be trials or whatever they would do if they were being detained in US facilities?
bemildred
(90,061 posts)We might have to bring some of them to trial, and then they would get to state their case against us.