Guantanamo Bay Detention Center Opens – Abuses Follow
The first detainees seized by American forces in the post-9/11 war on terrorism arrived at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, Camp X, in Cuba on this day.
Guantanamo Bay soon became the international symbol of violations of law and human rights by the administration of President George W. Bush.
President Barack Obama, upon becoming president, signed an Executive Order to close Guantanamo on January 22, 2009, but was unable to do so. Congress, on January 7, 2011, prohibited the use of any funds to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. for trial.
Read: Mark P. Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz, The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law(2009)
Watch the full documentary, The Road to Guantanamo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HCw-5Qnm8c
Watch a video on Guantanamo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr8LdsBd_Tw
Read: Karen Greenberg, The Least Worst Place: How Guantanamo Became the World’s Most Notorious Prison (2009)
Watch ACLU Director Anthony Romero discuss his visit to GITMO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUgiHgwXp-M