President-elect Barack Obama will face a lot of challenges once he drops the “elect” from his title and officially assumes the presidency in less than a week. Obviously, taking concrete steps to improve the economy is at the forefront of the agenda, but another problem Obama plans to solve early in his presidency is that of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The questionable treatment experienced by several detainees, some who might be guilty only of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, represents gross misconduct on the part of the Bush administration and has stained our country’s reputation as a strong defender of human rights and democratic values. Guantanamo has left the U.S. susceptible to charges of hypocrisy since the treatment of detainees indicates our country does not practice what it preaches. Additionally, terrorist organizations have used Guantanamo as a recruiting tool; some Web sites utilize graphic images of tortured detainees to convince potential newcomers to join the fight. Of course, Bush did not intend to help dangerous anti-American groups swell their ranks, but sadly, that was the net effect of the decision to violate various international laws.
Obama, however, hopes to start the long, slow process of regaining respect from the international community by “fixing” Guantanamo. The first action his administration should take is to review every detainee’s case, which will hopefully lead to the release of individuals who are not guilty of any crime or who pose no threat to our security. Extraditing harmless individuals will be seen as a sign of goodwill and will allow the U.S. to focus more attention on legitimately dangerous individuals.
As far as the real terrorists go, the Obama administration should provide them with legal counsel and give them the opportunity to plead their cases in a court that will punish them accordingly. Such a move will show the U.S.’s commitment to the ideas of justice and rule of law — ideas on which this country is based.
Obviously, closing down the detention center is easier said than done; after all, the U.S. government can’t just unlock the doors, release the prisoners and pretend nothing ever happened. There are a lot of legally murky issues surrounding Guantanamo, issues that will probably take a lot of time and effort to resolve. The torture of some detainees especially complicates matters since evidence collected through torture cannot be used in court.
Several reports released shortly after the election indicated the Obama administration would make closing the infamous prison a high priority, and there were hopes Obama would close Guantanamo during his first 100 days in office. Obama himself admitted in last week’s episode of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that closing the detention center has proven to be much more difficult and problematic than he previously predicted, and much to the disappointment of human rights activists, he did not seem to think the task could be accomplished within the 100-day time frame.
I sincerely hope Obama’s team will take closing down Guantanamo as seriously as the media claims it will. The fact that it has already begun to look at the issue thoroughly implies that though Guantanamo isn’t closing on Jan. 21, we can expect it will shut down sometime in the near future. Eliminating vestiges of the previous administration as soon as possible will allow the country to move on and will remind people here and all over the world why we elected Obama.
Aimee Sobhani is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at aimee.f.sobhani@vanderbilt.edu.
