Nathan Darmiento

COMM 1270
Value Paper

One of the many values that Americans hold in high regard today is the adherence to laws

and equal protection under those same laws. A word that can encapsulate this belief is “justice.” I

believe that the notion of justice is a cornerstone to not only a functioning democracy, but of

organized human society. For this reason, I have chosen justice to be the value upon which I will

base my argument on. Luckily for me, the decision maker I will have to convince is one that is

quoted as saying, “Not only am I the law and order candidate, but I am also the candidate of

compassion, believe it. The candidate of compassion” (​Politico​, 2016). The President of the

United States, Donald J. Trump, will be my decision maker for the following argument. He has

advertised himself as a president that follows the rule of law, the earlier quote being from a

campaign rally speech given in July of 2016. This means that my argument, based on justice and

rule of law, should convince President Trump.

Before I begin talking about my proposition, some background information is needed.

Amnesty International is a global, grassroots organization that looks into human rights violations

all over the world. They have received the Nobel Peace Prize for their brave and, often times,

dangerous work exposing human rights violations (Amnesty International, ​About Amnesty​). Of

the many cases they take, one of them is Guantanamo Bay. An AI (Amnesty International)

article published on January of 2018 clearly explained what is Guantanamo Bay. After the

terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush declared a ‘War on Terror.’

This global threat of terrorism, he argued, “overrode the obligation to respect human rights.”
This marked the beginning of one of the darkest times in American history. Established in

January of 2002, Guantanamo Bay, on the southern tip of Cuba, is a military prison set up “to

hold people perceived to be ‘enemy combatants’ in this war on terror.” What followed was 16

years, and counting, of gross human rights violations against prisoners at the hands of American

and British intelligence officers, with no end in sight (Amnesty International, 2018).

The laws that this prison breaks are internationally recognized and respected. The

Declaration of Human Rights, “proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on

10 December 1948,” is the law standard for all peoples of all countries to adhere to (United

Nations). After the end of the Second World War, the United Nations sought to protect basic

human principles and rights guaranteed to us by birth. This charter was revolutionary because it

set out, “for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected” (United

Nations). The prison site at Guantanamo Bay is in violation of at least three international laws.

For this reason, Guantanamo Bay needs to be eradicated and either have the remaining prisoners

there charged with recognizable crimes with evidence or have them released and reunited with

their families in their respective countries.

Since its inception in 2002, Guantanamo Bay has illegally housed 779 prisoners

(Amnesty International, 2018). One of them, Shaker Aamer, is an example of how this unlawful

prison operates irrespective of international law. Aamer was one of the first men to arrive on the

island in 2002. After 13 years of being held, without trial or a single charge, he was released and

reunited with his family in the U.K. However, Aamer was scheduled to be released only five

years after his arrest, in 2007, but he was held for an additional eight years. As AI puts it, this

indicates “that US authorities had no intention of bringing him to trial for the last eight years”
(Amnesty International, 2018). According to the article, Aamer’s lawyers claim that the reason

why he was held for nearly an extra decade was because he witnessed U.S. and U.K. agents

torture other imprisoned men. In other words, for simply being a witness to human rights

violations, Aamer’s punishment was an additional eight years in an illegal prison.

Aamer’s story is a heartbreaking one, but it also highlights specifically which human

rights laws Guantanamo Bay breaks. Article 9 of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”

is concise and straightforward. It reads: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention

or exile” (United Nations). Aamer was never charged with a crime during his 13 year sentence.

That means that he was held behind bars with no justifiable reason. Also, after witnessing the

torture carried out by American and British agents he was given an extra eights years. The entire

13 years of his sentence was completely arbitrary since it lacked any evidence of any crime he

may have committed. This proves how Guantanamo Bay does not adhere to the rule of law and

must be shut down.

Unfortunately, the illegal prison doesn’t only violate one law. It also does not follow

Article 10 which guarantees that, “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public

hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal…” (United Nations). This is especially

important because a fair and public hearing would ensure that any prisoner is held on

recognizable crimes and not on false charges, if any charges were placed at all. Guantanamo Bay

is known for its usage of unfair hearings, or “military commissions.” These commissions are

explained clearly by “Human Rights Watch”, an organization similar to Amnesty International

which investigates violations of human rights. In a recent article, they go on to say that the

military commissions are illegal because they are, “mired in excessive secrecy, fail to adequately
protect attorney-client privileged communications, and permit the introduction of coerced

evidence” (Human Rights Watch, 2018).

The secrecy these hearings are shrouded in provide a cover for illegal means to acquire

any information which, among other things, include torture as an ‘effective’ tool to collect false

confessions. This was the case for Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi, a 52 year old Tunisian. He was one

of the first detainees to arrive at Guantanamo Bay and, after a military commission, he was

accused of being an al-Qaeda member with ties to its leadership. However, these accusations

were “later proven​ unreliable​” because they “...[contained] information derived from torture”

(Huffington Post, 2018). Guantanamo’s treatment of al-Yazidi’s case provides an illustration to

how the hearings the prisoners face are neither fair nor public, which ultimately break

international law. This is yet another example of why this unjust institution needs to be shut

down.

Guantanamo Bay is infamous for its extreme torture methods, which break Article 5 of

the charter. “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment” (United Nations). Not only does Guantanamo Bay hold prisoners without charge or

give unfair hearings that have already been decided before the trial begins, but it tortures and

humiliates all of its prisoners. There have been countless stories from prisoners that depict the

endless and barbaric torture that occurs inside that illegal prison. One of these stories is covered

thoroughly by “Reprieve”, an organization that specializes in cases that violate human rights

such as Guantanamo Bay, the death penalty, and drone assassinations (Reprieve).

Of the many cases Reprieve takes, one of them involves a Pakistani taxi driver who, in

2002, was “mistaken by intelligence services for a known extremist.” As a result of this
‘innocent’ mistake, Ahmed Rabbani somehow survived 545 days of torture under CIA custody.

Later, in 2004, he was sold for a bounty of $5,000 and was transferred to Guantanamo Bay

where, in usual fashion, he was held without trial or any charges. While his time in Guantanamo,

Rabbani underwent “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which is a polite way of saying torture.

He describes how “​his torture began with threats of rape against his wife” then later escalated to

being forced into the “Dark Prison”, where prisoners are held in complete darkness. He then later

graduated to the strappado, which consists of being hung by the wrist and is designed to

“gradually and painfully...dislocate the shoulders” (Reprieve).

Rabbani is not the only prisoner to undergo the process of ‘enhanced interrogation.’ In

January of 2013, a prison-wide hunger strike was started and was a way for prisoners to

peacefully protest their illegal detention. Shaker Aamer, the prisoner who was held an additional

eight years, took part in this brave strike, and, as a reward, he was violently force fed twice a

day, which consisted of having a thin tube forced down his nose, deep inside his body, and have

food pumped into his stomach (Amnesty International).

Rabbani’s, Aamer’s, and al-Yazidi’s stories are clear proof that the prison site at

Guantanamo Bay does not follow the rule of law because it allows for the torture of its prisoners.

For a president, like Donald J. Trump, to proclaim he values justice and laws then to turn around

and torture countless prisoners, in an illegal prison site, is one of the greatest mockeries of our

time. When future historians look back at Guantanamo Bay, they will see it as the criminal and

hypocritical institution that it was and wonder why a nation, that valued law and order, justified

its existence.
 The criminal prison site still, to this day, manages to gain support and ardent defenders. A

recent op-ed in the Washington Post, a left-leaning news agency, argued that the detention

facility at Guantanamo should remain open. Its author, Tom Rogan, starts off by saying that the

“​detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay are imperfect” but, since “the United States is at war

with al-Qaeda and its ideological affiliates (ISIL included), Guantanamo Bay must remain open.”

Rogan then proceeds to state how the prisoners are driven by an “existential struggle to purify

the earth” and return to terrorism once released. As evidence of this, he references a statistic by

the Director of National Intelligence which said that “over 28% of former Guantanamo bay

detainees” return to terrorism (Washington Post, 2015). Rogan forgot to mention the fact that the

vast majority of these prisoners are held without charge or any evidence of a crime they might

have committed. This brazen violation of basic rights, which also include horrific torture while

inside the prison, is a recipe for radicalization against the U.S., that may have never have been

there in the first place, and turns innocent men into extremists.

Since the op-ed was written towards the end of the Obama administration, Rogan states

how, “President Obama’s first responsibility as Commander-in-Chief is the protection of

American life and liberty. Closing Guantanamo would achieve the very opposite effect”

(Washington Post, 2015). His argument that Guantanamo Bay ensures the protection of the U.S.

is not valid because the agencies overseeing this illegal detention center are rogue actors who are

not interested in getting to the truth. Rather, they want confessions that confirm their biases

against their prisoners and torturing men who have not been convicted of any crime, which lead

to false confessions, does not protect anyone. Even if we were to entertain the idea that every

prisoner inside Guantanamo Bay are confirmed terrorists that pose significant threats to the U.S.,
they still have all their rights guaranteed to them, according to Article 2 of the charter of human

rights. ​“​Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without

distinction of any kind...no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or

international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs” (United Nations).

Furthermore, notice how Rogan places American life and liberty, or law and order, before the

fundamental basic rights of many innocent men imprisoned illegally, the antithesis of law and

order. This not only shows how hypocritical this illegal prison is, but how Guantanamo Bay

needs to be shut down and have all of its remaining prisoners either convicted of recognizable

crimes or released. Even supporters of this unjust institution fail to provide an adequate argument

as to why it should still remain open.

President Trump has the authority to close down Guantanamo Bay. Not only will shutting

it down be the correct thing to do morally, but there is something he would benefit from doing

so. It’s no secret that the United States is extremely polarized and in dire need for an excuse to

unify. If President Trump was to shut down Guantanamo Bay, and release its innocent prisoners,

the political pundits on the right, such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh who have large

audiences, have already proven their unwavering loyalty to him and, therefore, would support

this move. The pundits on the left would also have to support this move and give the president

credit for doing the right thing. This in turn would boost President Trump’s approval rating,

which he cares so deeply about.

Guantanamo Bay is an illegal prison site that acts outside of the law and needs to be

immediately shut down. I have shown how this prison breaks the law and has no intention of

following it anytime soon. By eradicating Guantanamo Bay, and having the prisoners there
charged with recognizable crimes with evidence or have them released, President Trump would

not only be acting on his personal stance of being the law and order candidate but he would also

have something to gain from it. All in all, the closing down of Guantanamo would be a

win-win-win, for the illegally detained prisoners, the President’s approval rating, and the moral

fabric of this country which values justice and the rule of law.
 Works Cited

1. Nelson, Louis, ​Politico,​ “Trump: ‘I am the law and order candidate’, July 11, 2016.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-law-order-candidate-225372

2. ​Amnesty International UK,​ “Guantanamo Bay: 14 years of injustice”, January 12, 2018.

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/guantanamo-bay-human-rights

3. ​United Nations​, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” accessed November 5, 2018.

http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html

4. ​Human Rights Watch​, “Q&A: Guantanamo Bay, US Detentions, and the Trump

Administration”, June 27, 2018.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/27/qa-guantanamo-bay-us-detentions-and-trump-administrati

on

5. Pitter, Laura, ​Huffington Post​, “After 16 years, End Injustice at Guantanamo”, January 11,

2018.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/after-16-years-end-injustice-at-guantanamo_us_5a567242

e4b0d1a645f96bac

6. ​Reprieve,​ “Active Cases: Ahmed Rabbani” https://reprieve.org.uk/case-study/ahmed-rabbani/

7. Rogan, Tom, ​Washington Post​, “Rogan: Why Guantanamo Bay should stay open”, November

10, 2015.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/11/10/rogan-why-guantanamo-bay-s

hould-stay-open/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.587c8b369d30