Here’s the scenario: we are currently engaged in a war on terror as a response to the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Some persons suspected of having participating in that crime and in other terrorist activities against the United States have been captured. The question is: where do we put these suspected terrorists? Do we bring them to the United States, where we risk escape and they may have access to the general prison population? Do we send them to other countries where they may also escape or be given amnesty by the government? Or do we put them in a relatively remote area outside the continental United States yet still under federal control? Technically speaking, that last option makes the most sense and risks the least.

The only complicated tasks are to make sure that they have the minimal protections under the law that any captured prisoner of war would have, being that the war on terror is currently raging on. Some details remain, such as if we can detain them indefinitely (as long as the war on terror continues) and how we can interrogate them, but in general it only makes sense to hold them in Guantanamo Bay, a US territory without major civilian centers and isolated from the United States. Escape to Cuba is almost impossible, given the major military presence on the border and in the territory in general (unless you’re Harold or Kumar).

What I do not understand is why the administration is so determined to close down this very convenient detention center in Guantanamo Bay. They talk about interrogation methods, but we have already stopped the controversial ones (from my understanding). They talk about more legal rights, but I do not see why they can’t have more legal rights in Guantanamo. They say that some are wrongly imprisoned, but what about the ones that are not wrongly imprisoned. We can release the innocent to whichever country accepts them, but to close down a perfectly situated detention center that can hold the suspected terrorists makes no sense. Just yesterday, families of 911 victims visited Gitmo and expressed their wish that the facility remain open. Why isn’t the administration listening? Why insist that we relocate them to the United States mainland? Why stop the trials altogether, can’t they simply revise the rules and get going?

Right now, it seems that the push to close Guantanamo has no logical basis. Seriously, the administration can turn it into a Disneyland if it wants… but instead they insist on letting them go or relocating them. The only people that benefit from relocation or release are the actual terrorists and the only effect that has is to increase the risk of terrorism around the world. The liberal administration is more interested in its power than the wishes of the people most directly affected by this tragedy. Why won’t Obama satisfy the wishes of the families of the victims of the most horrific terrorist attack on America in history? Who’s wishes is he satisfying?

-AG