'Now Is the Time' is Correct; Close Guantanamo Bay

May 10, 2013


With all the political gridlock of Washington, DC, it seems the only status of detainees in Guantanamo (Gitmo) Bay is limbo. Though President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to shutting down the detention facility as a moral and national security issue, the reality is that more than half of the Gitmo detainees are approaching the third month of their hunger strike.

There is no more room for lip service; the doors of this prison must be closed. “I continue to believe that we need to close Guantanamo,” said the President last week in a press conference. “I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep us safe. It is expensive, it is inefficient, it hurts us in terms of our international standing, it lessens cooperation with our allies on counterterrorism efforts, it is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed.”

Congressional gridlock, indecisions and wasted taxpayers’ money are keeping Gitmo open. Keeping the facility open costs $177 million per year on average, with the Department of Defense recently requesting $200 million dollars more to renovate the facility. The average cost to house a criminal in a high-security facility in the U.S. is less than $30,000; compare that to more than $1 million for each of the detainees. This indeed is outrageous.

Costs aside, the moral repercussions of Gitmo are inexcusable. Of the 166 detainees, 86 have been approved for transfer; they are being detained without any charges and without any evidence of guilt. Now detainees are being forced through nasal tubes to eat, and additional medical teams had to be flown to the facility to assist the overwhelmed staff.

The treatment of Gitmo detainees is contrary to the values we hold dear and who we are as a nation. To have years of investigations turn up empty while detainees continue to be condemned for life indefinitely is abysmal. One thing remains definite however, Guantanamo Bay continues to deliver shame upon our national conscience.

“Now is the time” has long since passed; we are at a point where closing this dark chapter must be done.




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