(no subject)
Guantanamo bay outline( my email and printer are not working correctly)
Emma Lange
Mr. Porto
Participation In Government
December 17, 2005
Guantanamo Bay
What is the public policy question that I am trying to answer? Should detainees in Guantanamo Bay have the same rights as prisoners of war, and/or the rights established by the U.S. Constitution? Background information: Guantanamo Bay is a century-old military outpost seized during the Spanish-American War and subsequently leased from Cuba to the United States. Guantanamo Bay has always been a topic of interest in politics but just recently, starting with the war on Iraq, many human-rights groups have become interested in and are fighting for rights of the detainees. Although not all of the detainees were taken captive during this current war, many of the detainees being housed currently are members of the Taliban and Al Quieda. Before the war on terror, the base was used to house Cuban and Haitian refugees intercepted on the high seas. There are three camps in the base, Camp X-ray, Camp Echo, Camp Iguana and Camp Delta. Laws: The Geneva Convention was adopted in 1949 after World War 2. The Geneva Convention was passed to protect the rights of prisoners of war (P.O.W.) during declared warfare. Possible solutions: -Oppositions (people opposed to Guantanamo Bay and the allegations): Physical conditions for detainees at Camp X-ray are claimed to meet basic standards for maintaining health, but the prisoners are held in small, mesh-sided cells with little privacy, and lights are kept on day and night. - American doctrine in dealing with prisoners of war state that isolation and silence are effective means in breaking down the will to resist interrogation. - There have been allegations of torture, including sleep deprivation, the use of so-called truth drugs, beatings, locking in confined and cold cells, and being forced to maintain uncomfortable postures. - Member states of the European Union and the Organization of American States, as well as non-government organization, and human-rights groups have strenuously protested the legal status and physical conditions of detainees at Guantanamo. - Many of the detainees have strict loyalty to their choice of religion, Muslim, and the people in power at Guantanamo refuse to respect their beliefs by insisting on the detainees to deny the commandments of the Muslim faith; such as cutting ones hair, forcing them to wear hats and goggles, and consumption of certain foods at certain times. - Since Guantanamo Bay is technically foreign territory, the detainees have no rights under the U.S. Constitution and cannot appeal to U.S. federal courts. Any rights they might have under international law have been firmly denied. The detainees should be granted P.O.W. status until otherwise deemed by an approved body. -The members of The Taliban and Al Quieda are not technically members of the government body of Iraq and therefore do not pertain to international law. -Respecting the presumption of POW status and upholding the human rights of detainees today will help to protect our people in the future. - The U.S. uses the rules of the Geneva Convention when it is convenient for them, such as not allowing reporters to film the detainees upon arrival; the reason for this is because the detainees are bound. Allegiances (people for Guantanamo Bay and the allegations): - The Taliban and Al Quieda positively pride themselves on violating the laws of war. -The Geneva Convention says that POW’s are soldiers or equipped fighters that hold warfare and lay down their weapons and accept that they have been captured. The detainees have not laid down their weapons; they were caught for interrogational reasons. -Actually, experts on interrogation, unlike journalists, do not even consider torture a proper or useful means of obtaining information. -There are no explanations or equivocations that can excuse the abuse and torture of prisoners that become a scandal after it was revealed at Abu Ghreib prison in Iraq. Conclusion: The U.S. Government should only follow their laws and pertain to international law when they have to, they should denounce these allegations with actual evidence and stop beating around the subject. Although The Geneva Convention should be reworded and retracted at by the us, the us should stick to their own guidelines, in a way the us is being a hypocrite. Also it should be up to an approved body to decide what happens to the detainees, not at the us’s digression.
Emma Lange
Mr. Porto
Participation In Government
December 17, 2005
Guantanamo Bay
What is the public policy question that I am trying to answer? Should detainees in Guantanamo Bay have the same rights as prisoners of war, and/or the rights established by the U.S. Constitution? Background information: Guantanamo Bay is a century-old military outpost seized during the Spanish-American War and subsequently leased from Cuba to the United States. Guantanamo Bay has always been a topic of interest in politics but just recently, starting with the war on Iraq, many human-rights groups have become interested in and are fighting for rights of the detainees. Although not all of the detainees were taken captive during this current war, many of the detainees being housed currently are members of the Taliban and Al Quieda. Before the war on terror, the base was used to house Cuban and Haitian refugees intercepted on the high seas. There are three camps in the base, Camp X-ray, Camp Echo, Camp Iguana and Camp Delta. Laws: The Geneva Convention was adopted in 1949 after World War 2. The Geneva Convention was passed to protect the rights of prisoners of war (P.O.W.) during declared warfare. Possible solutions: -Oppositions (people opposed to Guantanamo Bay and the allegations): Physical conditions for detainees at Camp X-ray are claimed to meet basic standards for maintaining health, but the prisoners are held in small, mesh-sided cells with little privacy, and lights are kept on day and night. - American doctrine in dealing with prisoners of war state that isolation and silence are effective means in breaking down the will to resist interrogation. - There have been allegations of torture, including sleep deprivation, the use of so-called truth drugs, beatings, locking in confined and cold cells, and being forced to maintain uncomfortable postures. - Member states of the European Union and the Organization of American States, as well as non-government organization, and human-rights groups have strenuously protested the legal status and physical conditions of detainees at Guantanamo. - Many of the detainees have strict loyalty to their choice of religion, Muslim, and the people in power at Guantanamo refuse to respect their beliefs by insisting on the detainees to deny the commandments of the Muslim faith; such as cutting ones hair, forcing them to wear hats and goggles, and consumption of certain foods at certain times. - Since Guantanamo Bay is technically foreign territory, the detainees have no rights under the U.S. Constitution and cannot appeal to U.S. federal courts. Any rights they might have under international law have been firmly denied. The detainees should be granted P.O.W. status until otherwise deemed by an approved body. -The members of The Taliban and Al Quieda are not technically members of the government body of Iraq and therefore do not pertain to international law. -Respecting the presumption of POW status and upholding the human rights of detainees today will help to protect our people in the future. - The U.S. uses the rules of the Geneva Convention when it is convenient for them, such as not allowing reporters to film the detainees upon arrival; the reason for this is because the detainees are bound. Allegiances (people for Guantanamo Bay and the allegations): - The Taliban and Al Quieda positively pride themselves on violating the laws of war. -The Geneva Convention says that POW’s are soldiers or equipped fighters that hold warfare and lay down their weapons and accept that they have been captured. The detainees have not laid down their weapons; they were caught for interrogational reasons. -Actually, experts on interrogation, unlike journalists, do not even consider torture a proper or useful means of obtaining information. -There are no explanations or equivocations that can excuse the abuse and torture of prisoners that become a scandal after it was revealed at Abu Ghreib prison in Iraq. Conclusion: The U.S. Government should only follow their laws and pertain to international law when they have to, they should denounce these allegations with actual evidence and stop beating around the subject. Although The Geneva Convention should be reworded and retracted at by the us, the us should stick to their own guidelines, in a way the us is being a hypocrite. Also it should be up to an approved body to decide what happens to the detainees, not at the us’s digression.