If everything goes according to plan, the US will withdraw from Afghanistan at the end of next year. However, will this also mean the end of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, one of the worst legacies of America's war on terror? The military penal complex at a 45-square-mile US Naval Base on the southeastern coast of Cuba was opened in January 2002 under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), a law passed within days of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US. The law authorizes the use of military force against those who “planned, authorized, committed or aided” the Sept. 11 attacks and might launch new attacks. Armed with excessive powers, the US military authorities in Afghanistan arrested and transported hundreds of people to Cuba. There are still 164 men there — virtually all of them held without charge, some for more than a decade. Detainees include some 9/11 plotters and hard-core Taliban members, but many are innocent people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Some Afghans were falsely implicated by their countrymen because they held grudges against them. Some were handed over to US authorities for monetary gains. Seven detainees have committed suicide. From time to time there have been hunger strikes, with American soldiers reduced to force-feeding prisoners who are strapped to chairs with a tube down their throats. President Barack Obama was elected in 2008 having promised to shut the prison facility. The fact that he had to reiterate his commitment to closing Gitmo in his speech at the United Nations last month shows how far he has succeeded in his mission. Of course, Obama can blame the lack of bipartisan support for his inability to close the prison or release or transfer many of the remaining 164 detainees. However, he could have avoided adopting a more expanded interpretation of the law to use force against “Al-Qaeda associates” including groups that did not exist when it was first enacted. Worse still, the Pentagon is actually considering spending $200 million for improvements and expansions clearly indicating that Guantanamo is going to be a permanent feature of the lawlessness that goes in the name of the war on terror. In a speech he delivered in May this year, Obama said his objective is to “refine, and ultimately repeal” the existing authority under which the prisoners are held. This again may be delayed or abandoned due to opposition from Congress. However, the president can carry out two key commitments he made as steps toward closing the prison at Guantanamo and ending the indefinite detention of prisoners. He can appoint an envoy in the Defense Department to lead the efforts to close the notorious facility, and he can also direct the secretary of defense to use his existing statutory authority to transfer cleared detainees to foreign countries that will respect their human rights. A number of countries are clearly interested in receiving transferred detainees and have the ability to reintegrate them into society. If the goal is truly to bring terrorists to justice and provide solace to their victims, then why allow suspects to languish in a legal black hole?
