Guantanamo: Shame on the White House

Closing Guantanamo prison is not a priority of the U.S. Congress, according to a member of Congress working in connection to closing the base, who described the U.S. president as regarding the effort as unimportant work.

Democratic Representative Steny H. Hoyer, who is working on efforts to close Guantanamo prison, is frustrated the Guantanamo issue is not on the U.S. Congress’ priority list, despite a campaign promise from U.S. President Obama. He added that the most important issues for Congress to solve are the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic crisis, which are taking priority over closing Guantanamo. In another part of his remarks, he pointed out that the discussion of closing Guantanamo will be fully debated in a future session of Congress.

Guantanamo is the name of the prison in Guantanamo Bay, in southeast Cuba, that has been provided to the U.S. Army for its use. At the beginning of the American war against terrorism, Guantanamo became a place where accused members and supporters of terrorist groups were kept. Of course, there is documented proof that shows Americans have kept some innocent people in Guantanamo for years without any special reason, where there have also been documented cases of harassment, as well as physical and mental torture. In fact, how can the United States justify these crimes? They answer that some people have been released from Guantanamo, but those released say there is distress, intolerance and torture.

Recently, two senior Afghan intelligence officials claimed that a former prisoner at Guantanamo, who was there for over two years, was brought in as an innocent and simply wanted to return to his country to help his family. He was released from Guantanamo, but because of what he suffered there, he is now a senior Taliban commander, fighting against the Americans’ attack in southern Afghanistan. Abdel-Qayoum, another former Guantanamo prisoner who was innocent and is now seeking revenge for his suffering, was released two years ago and is now considered the “number two” in the Afghan Taliban. Therefore, it should finally be said that Representative Hoyer’s claim that closing Guantanamo is not a priority is a shame, and another example of the White House’s violations of human rights.