¿Hasta luego Guantanamo?

President Bush recently made a statement that allowed for the possibility of the Guantanamo Bay "detention center"/prison/military camp being disbanded at some point in the future. When asked in a recent interview whether shutting the camp down was an option, he stated: "We're exploring all alternatives as to how best to do the main objective, which is to protect America. What we don't want to do is let somebody out that comes back and harms us," (emphasis mine).

True, there was no actual statement of intent to disband the camp, but this is significantly not an absolute "no." There has been mounting pressure for this type of change, including the recent criticism from Jimmy Carter. The US is now working on its third year of holding more than 500 prisoners without charges brought against them, and the public is growing increasingly uncomfortable with the lack of human rights offered in these camps. As we put time between ourselves and 9/11, these systems become very difficult for the majority of individuals to justify.

I wonder if we are focusing on the symptoms instead of the illness. The picture of Guantanamo painted for us has consistently darkened with each revelation of inhumane treatment, and there is also evidence of several other military prisons that serve the same purpose for an unknown number of international prisoners. Guantanamo is simply the only prison that is familiar to the public. If there are this many problems with the camp that is being scrutinized by the media, what is going on in the other camps that have no external accountability?

Because we have the secret camps (regardless of their ethical viability), I wish we could be confident in a military that supported principled and just treatment of all human life. Until internal military reform establishes humane standards of practice that are actually enforced, I am afraid that we will continue to hear stories from new camps and new prisons where the same problems occur.

I hope that the President does decide to disband Guantanamo, but I hope that he does it as a symbol of a new era in national security policy: an era where human life is valued, and where national security begins with solidarity and mutual trust among our citizens.