Joint Chiefs Chairman Spurs Guantanamo Debate

When Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said Sunday that he'd like to see the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba shut down, his comments offered a glimpse of hope to opponents of the prison camp that the U.S. military has operated for the past six years, and renewed the debate about the purpose and effectiveness of the facility.

Mullen's comments came during a tour Expeditionary Legal Complex and the Joint Task Force detention facilities designed for prisoners captured during the U.S. global war on terrorism. Mullen acknowledged that much of the world had its eyes on Guantanamo, but he knew of no official plans to close the detention facility that has been under increasing scrutiny in the last few years for its indefinite detention of suspected terrorists.

According to GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank, the naval base at Guantanamo Bay is the oldest U.S. military base located overseas, and the only one hosted by a communist country. The base was used primarily for logistics support to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and for counter drug operations prior to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October, 2001. In the 1990s, the base was used as a safe haven for tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban and refugees.

Human rights and civil liberties have repeatedly called for the prison's closure, citing inhumane treatment and the right of detainees to judicial protections afforded to the accused by U.S. law. Proponents of the facility have argued that enemy combatants captured on a battlefield are not protected by U.S. laws designed for the American public. The Bush administration has used the camp to house detainees picked up on battlefields around the world, and has pursued legal proceedings through the use of military tribunals rather than U.S. courts. Accusations of torture have been frequent and severe, although the U.S. military denies that prisoners are subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment. The Guantanamo detention facility marked its sixth anniversary on January 11, an occasion which provided Amnesty International an opportunity to label the prison "...a symbol of injustice and abuse."

Several countries around the world have called on the United States to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and Admiral Mullen's comments there on Sunday seemed to add fuel to the fire. While he was expressing his personal opinion on the closure of the camp, his statements gave some the hope that the remaining prisoners, nearly 300 individuals, would soon find new homes.

Source: Joint Task Force Guantanamo web site, GlobalSecurity.org, Amnesty International