Stars and Stripes in Cuba

Guantanamo Bay. A military detention camp in Cuba designed to hold some of the United States' most dangerous criminals who are specifically chosen to give unfair trials. Recently on 60 minutes I watched in awe to see what really goes on at Guantanamo. The 9/11 masterminds who weren't apart of the plane crashes but coordinated the events as a whole are currently being held there and thats what 60 minutes chose to focus on for their segment. The entire video clip/transcript can be found here.

Guantanamo is notorious for being an United States operated detainment center where torture, eavesdropping and unfair trails are part of every day life. These unfair trials include criminals (mostly terrorists) not having trials for over ten years as they are forced to sit in jail cells for 23 and a half hours a day. Sounds illegal right? Wrong. Since Guantanamo is located in Cuba, its legal jurisdiction flies under the Cuban flag which allows prisoners to be detained for much more substantial amounts of time compared to the US legal system.

Commander Walter Ruiz, the attorney for one of the 9/11 leaders was featured on 60 minutes speaking of the immoral activities that go on at Guantanamo. At first, I wanted to completely disagree with what ever he had to say due to the fact that I want to see a very severe punishment to the men responsible for 9/11. As I really listened to what he had to say, I happened to change my viewpoint towards the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo.

Ruiz claimed that, "Every day we listen to the national anthem in Guantanamo... but yet the constitution has been kicked down the road." It's interesting to think about this and I do agree with Ruiz because the US shouldn't be able to have a prison run by its military in a foreign country. These men and women, regardless of their crimes are being treated unjustly.

The question i pose is: Should the United States continue using Guantanamo bay as a prison camp and if so why?