Assuaging fears about closing Guantánamo Bay
Closing down Guantánamo Bay has been a goal of the Obama administration since his first week in the job, but doing so has proven to be an arduous task that threatens to live on after President Obama leaves office.
A new plan has been released outlining a possible plan to relocate prisoners from Guantánamo Bay to the mainland, where they would await trial in U.S. courts. But the prospect of Guantanamo Bay detainees being held on U.S. soil has raised fear and concern among some of the U.S population, according to a recent poll carried out by the Huffington Post and YouGov.
According to the data, 56 percent of Americans polled believe Guantánamo Bay should continue to operate, and 58 percent believe “releasing terrorists who could harm the U.S. from detention” would be the worst outcome of the U.S. antiterrorism efforts. Furthermore, 47 percent of respondents do not believe the prison will be shut down by the time the president leaves office, which raises questions about not only the president’s efforts to close the prison but the American people’s enthusiasm to see it shut down as well.
A contributing factor for the apparent reluctance to see Guantánamo Bay closed could be the general feeling of xenophobia that has become commonplace in the political climate in the months leading up to the general election. Fear-mongering, and harping on the threat of immigration in particular, has become the rallying cry of many presidential hopefuls, and it isn’t a stretch to question if the pushback to the Obama’s administration efforts to close the prison is an issue of timing and not necessarily the intent of the admirable pursuit.
Guantánamo Bay serves as a reminder of the torture and violation of human rights that came about as a result of the War On Terror and a mentality borne out of fear in the aftermath of the national tragedy that occurred on 9/11. It also stands as a monument to the errors in policy that resulted in inhumane treatment of prisoners and an affront to the principles this country prides itself upon, but for many it is an issue that is out of sight and out of mind.
That’s why the results of the poll seem to indicate that bringing this issue to the forefront of our vision and our own country has been met with such apprehension. The problem is that, while closing Guantánamo Bay may be the ethically correct decision to make, it may not be the correct time when talk of constructing walls to keep immigrants out and fear of domestic terrorist attacks are prevalent.
There are a litany of benefits that would come with closing Guantánamo Bay, such as the fiscal incentive of saving $1.7 billion over 20 years as well as a corresponding improvement of international reputation. However, these arguments almost become null and void when the idea of moving detainees to U.S soil is tantamount to releasing terrorists into the country in the minds of the American people.
When presented with the facts and history surrounding Guantánamo Bay, it is easy to understand why closing the prison would be a good thing, but when the prison and its detainees are moved from the land of hypotheticals to one of physical realities and geographic proximity, fear can easily overcome reason. In order to permanently shut down Guantánamo Bay the Obama administration will have to do more than prove it is the right thing to do. They must also assuage the fear of events taking place as a result of this action that mirror the very motivations that mandated the use of Guantánamo Bay in the first place.