The Hill

Guantanamo Bay

Julia Newman

Two months after President Obama’s deadline to close Guantanamo Bay the controversial facility still remains open. This delay has to do with in part the debate over what to do with the prisoners kept there. The Obama Administration’s plan is to spend $230 million in 2011 to buy and retrofit the currently vacant prison in Thomson, Illinois to house Guantanamo prisoners. Currently there are about 190 detainees in Guantanamo Bay. On March 14, 2010 Representative John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is the House Minority Leader and a senior White House Adviser, stated his disapproval for this plan and called Guantanamo Bay a “world class facility.”

• Guantanamo Bay: A detention center of the United States located in Cuba.

• Argument for closing Guantanamo Bay: When it first opened the, President Bush said that the detainees were not protected under the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention sets standards for humane treatment of prisoner and victims of war. This would also be a good chance for President Obama to come through on a campaign promise.
• Argument against closing Guantanamo Bay: Many fear having these prisoners on United State soil as no state wants to house them. Many also feel $230 million is too much to spend when the United States already has a detention center.

Additional Reading:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/14/guantanamo.bay/index.html

http://www.politico.com/index.html?refresh=1