WRITTEN BY A.C. SMITH AND JAMIE NEBEN

A.C. Smith

I’m jumping out of my skin, and I’m surprised that more people don’t feel the same way!   A Guantanamo Bay detainee recently set foot on American soil (New York).  This should never happen for a couple of different reasons.  First of all, America is a place that these people believe is corrupted and where infidels live, so to bring them to the mainland is going to make them rise up against us even more.  The Guantanamo prison was built as a state of the art facility, so to keep them in inferior prisons would make them hate us more.

Secondly, bringing the prisoners to American soil will give them extra rights that shouldn’t be provided to them.  They were not representing a country when they were fighting against the United States, so should not be given the rights of a normal prisoner of war.  If they actually belonged to a country, we could send them back. The countries where they came from don’t even want them back, or want to recognize them as their citizens.   And let’s say they serve time in our prisons.  What are we going to do with them when they’re released?    So we have to keep them indefinitely until we believe they are not a threat anymore.   And the best place to do that is Guantanamo. 

Jamie Neben

Closing Gitmo is not only long overdue, but is in our best interest in terms of national security.  The prison has become a symbol of injustice that aids the enemy to recruit people to fight against us.  Our nation was founded on principles that ensure fairness.  To hold prisoners for a few years already, and who knows how much longer, without due process is inconsistent with our values.  Indeed, our Supreme Court has found those policies to be unconstitutional.   Mind you me, I have no soft spot for bad people, and those found guilty should be punished accordingly.   I don’t have any problem with the idea of holding detainees offshore.  However, our approach was all wrong.   By closing the prison we are sending a message to the world that we recognize that we failed to meet our own high standards, and we look to return to being the great nation that people expect us to be.