September 11th, 2001, one of the most horrific days in American history and the first time America has been attacked on their home soil in the modern age, has produced tension with the Muslim world and has significantly changed the way America runs on a day to day basis. Since 2001, America seems to change their mindset when it comes to engaging in conflict, to a “succeed at all cost” mentality. A perfect example of this is Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo Bay was not created after the September 11th attacks. It was established as a Naval base long before that in 1898. This base became operational after the United States assumed control of Cuba following the Spanish-American War. Following the 9/11 attacks, the base began to receive a great amount of publicity after news
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Guantanamo Bay has become famous for its torturing tactics, some of which influenced the tactics it Abu-Ghraib. While many people support the tactics used at Guantanamo Bay, there is a large portion that does not support them. Many of the tactics used at Guantanamo Bay are used to mentally and physically break down prisoners to gain intelligence for US forces. While gaining Intel is all well and good, this information should not come at the cost of dehumanizing prisoners. Admiral Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence is quoted in saying, “The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."() Admiral Blair says it perfectly. The abuse of torturing used at Guantanamo Bay, and the dehumanization of prisoners, is not proportional to the benefit, or the intelligence, that is being gained by doing so. These tactics are violations of two documents that the United States hold dear to their hearts, those being Jus in Bello as well as the Geneva Convention.
Guantanamo Bay has become famous for its torturing tactics, some of which influenced the tactics it Abu-Ghraib. While many people support the tactics used at Guantanamo Bay, there is a large portion that does not support them. Many of the tactics used at Guantanamo Bay are used to mentally and physically break down prisoners to gain intelligence for US forces. While gaining Intel is all well and good, this information should not come at the cost of dehumanizing prisoners. Admiral Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence is quoted in saying, “The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."() Admiral Blair says it perfectly. The abuse of torturing used at Guantanamo Bay, and the dehumanization of prisoners, is not proportional to the benefit, or the intelligence, that is being gained by doing so. These tactics are violations of two documents that the United States hold dear to their hearts, those being Jus in Bello as well as the Geneva Convention.