Vox asks 'Why is the Guantánamo Bay prison still open?'

It's been more than 20 years since 9/11, so other 20th anniversaries of events in the War on Terror have been happening as well. One of them was the 20th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Vox observed the occasion this week by asking Why is the Guantánamo Bay prison still open?

Two decades of the world’s most notorious prison.
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In 2002, the US opened a prison at its naval base in Guantánamo bay, Cuba. The 9/11 attacks had occurred just months before, and the US was capturing hundreds of men in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It wanted a place to hold and question them. So the Bush administration opened Guantánamo and claimed that it lay outside of US and international law.

The detainees didn’t have to be charged with a crime to be imprisoned and the US could hold them as long as they’d like. By 2003, there were nearly 700 men imprisoned in Guantánamo, but there was backlash from around the world. When Barack Obama took office in 2009, he pledged to close Guantánamo.

But politics quickly got in the way. He was able to decrease the population but faced legal challenges. Ultimately, no president has been able to close Guantánamo because once something is created outside the law, its impossible to bring it back inside the law.

As Dan Fried said, "Don't throw out the rule book in a fit of passion. You'll regret it...and we did."

That was the past. PBS NewsHour tried to ask about the future in As Guantanamo enters its third decade, what does the future look like for detainees?

Tuesday marked 20 years since the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba opened. Since Jan. 11, 2002, it’s been one of the most enduring symbols of the United States' war on terror. But it's also a symbol of government waste and mismanagement, and a legacy of torture. Amna Nawaz looks back at the facility's two decades, and what's to come, with Carol Rosenberg of The New York Time[s].

The answer is that some of them will get to go home, some may be convicted and imprisoned for the rest of their lives, which may end in execution, while others will be stuck in limbo, keeping the facility open because they're not considered prisoners of war and the political will is against interning them in the U.S. proper. If the U.S. had considered them prisoners of war, all but the war criminals would be released now that the U.S. has withdrawn from Afghanistan. But we're not and we're stuck with them as much as they're stuck with us. Phooey.

That prospect is enough to make me want to blog about the pandemic tomorrow. I have something planned, so stay tuned.