Two months ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order keeping the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, open indefinitely. This action continues an institution established by George W. Bush in 2002 that operates entirely outside the American legal system and the norms of international law.
Prisoners are held at Guantánamo Bay indefinitely, without trial, without being told what they have been charged with and without any opportunity to see evidence against them. Many of the detainees have been tortured, and some have died while in custody. Often their only "crime" was that a paid informant identified them as a terrorist. Yet 16 years after the prison at Guantánamo Bay was established, prisoners remain in custody.
Recently, I wrote to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers expressing my concerns about this situation. She responded, in part, that keeping Guantánamo open "is entirely in line with our values and our laws." I fail to see how a policy that ignores the basic principle of the American legal system that prisoners are entitled to a fair trial could possibly be "in line with our values and our laws." I thought protection from unfair imprisonment and the right to a fair trial were supposed to be core American values.
Bertie Weddell
Pullman
