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One of the
strange controversies in
Washington
DC
concerns the closing of the U.S. military prison at
Guantanamo
Bay “Gitmo” in Cuba. Senator John McCain wants it closed. Bob Gates has
wanted it closed ever since he became Defense Secretary back in the Bush years.
Moreover, President Obama has promised to close the prison, yet this effort has
been slowed by mysterious problems. Some of this opposition is a fear by the U.S.
military establishment that the entire base may be closed.
Media stories
focus only on the plan to disperse the 256 prisoners at Gitmo, and the U.S.
Senate vote —by a 90-to-6 margin—to deny Obama the $80 million he sought to
pay for closing down the prison. No one questioned why it costs $312,000 to fly
EACH prisoner elsewhere. Closing the prison will actually save money, so the
funding request and Senate vote are a mystery. Even most Senate Democrats voted
against closing the prison, supposedly because Obama presented no detailed plan
on where the prisoners will go.
The U.S. military has held these prisoners for years and already knows if evidence
exists to bring formal charges against certain prisoners. Those will be flown to
the USA
and charged with terrorism, as the U.S. Government has done in hundreds of
other terror cases. Some Congressmen oppose this common sense because they seem
to think that Gitmo endows prisoners with supernatural powers that allow them
to escape from maximum security prisons in the USA. Others worry that
non-English speaking foreigners from Gitmo have magical powers that allow them
to transform hardened American prisoners into terrorists.
If there is no
evidence an Afghan prisoner engaged in terrorism, but may prove a danger to
American troops, the U.S. military can transfer him to a POW camp in Afghanistan
until the conflict subsides. Many prisoners at Gitmo were scooped up during the
American invasion of Afghanistan
and had nothing to do with terrorism or the Taliban. Most are Arabs who were
snatched by local Afghans and turned over to the
U.S.
military for a reward, or were “captured” at roadblocks, detained for
questioning, and sent to Gitmo in a rush to produce terror suspects.
The Bush
administration freed hundreds of these innocent prisoners, and the Obama
administration is keen on quickly releasing the remainder. This has become a diplomatic circus as some countries refuse to accept them, or prisoners
fear arrest upon returning home. Small nations like Bermuda and Palau
have accepted some, probably after promises of aid, while the future of the
remainder are in limbo.
This is not a
complex problem. Prisoners who were mistakenly captured in Afghanistan
should be provided with a few thousand dollars in compensation and set free at
the very spot they were captured. They should be provided with a pass in case
they encounter American troops, and set free to resume whatever they were doing
prior to their capture. If they want to return to their home country, that is
their choice. Problem solved!
Nations such as
Yemen
refuse to accept prisoners they handed over to the USA. In such cases, the U.S. Navy can easily return prisoners by using a
helicopter or small boat to drop them off in a remote coastal location near
their home. They may face arrest, but setting them free at home is preferable to keeping them in
an American prison
indefinitely at taxpayer expense.
 Meanwhile, President Obama should order the closure of the entire naval base at
Gitmo, not just the prison. One reason it was selected as a prison is because
the base has no real mission. A former head of the U.S. Atlantic command, Marine
Corps General John Sheehan, wanted it closed a decade ago. It supports 7500
Americans with all the
personnel support amenities our modern Navy expects, including a school for the 331
children of sailors. It has a hospital, a church, a movie theater, recreation facilities, a
McDonalds, and even a veterinarian clinic. No
combat forces are based there, or even combat support forces. There are no ships, no
aircraft, no weapons, nor munitions based at Gitmo.
Gitmo was established after the Spanish-American war because
the U.S. military always builds bases in newly conquered areas. Its mission as America’s first foreign base was to serve as a “coaling station” where
coal-powered ships could refuel. When longer-range oil-powered ships entered the
fleet, a new mission was invented. The base watched for enemy fleets heading
toward the
Panama Canal. This was before aircraft and satellites, and when the USA
controlled the canal.
The small ship
maintenance activity at Gitmo was shut down in 1995 and the fleet training group moved to
Florida
that same year. Gitmo is now a rarely used airfield that was retained to
irritate Castro. Relations with Cuba
should normalize as Castro has retired and Obama has promised to ease trade
barriers. Closing Gitmo is a good step, and one that will save the U.S. Navy
millions of dollars a year and eliminate 3000 base personnel slots. Gitmo is expensive
to operate since every support item must be shipped from the USA, and the base must generate its own electricity and produce its own fresh
water. It is considered a hardship post since sailors are not allowed outside
the gates. They could turn out the lights at Gitmo tomorrow and fly everyone
home, and the rest of the Navy wouldn’t notice.
The
only plausible element at Gitmo is a small “joint drug task force,” which is
found at every U.S.
military base in
Latin America
to help justify their dubious purpose. The Navy already has an air station at
Key West, Florida
for whatever Caribbean contingency arises, plus access to airfields in Puerto Rico
and dozens of airfields at friendly nations in the region. Unfortunately, the U.S.
military never closes a base voluntarily, even when they no longer serve a purpose. Someone should inform President Obama that he should order the closure
of the entire base at Gitmo, for the good of the Navy and the nation.
Carlton Meyer editorG2mil@Gmail.com
©2009
www.G2mil.com
Overseas
Base Closure List Dec
2014 Update - New Dependent School Funded While
the fleet continues to shrink and the Gitmo prison closes, the Navy will
spend $65 million of a new school at Gimto ($237,000 per pupil);
several times more costly than stateside schools. |