| President Obama released four top-secret memos | | | | within a year, the number of detainees at Guantanamo |
| which gave bracing details about enhanced | | | | had fallen to 245 men. |
| interrogation techniques used on terrorist suspects | | | | Surfacing of Mistreatment: |
| during the Bush administration. | | | | May 2005, Newsweek magazine ran a story about |
| "Exceptional circumstances surround these memos | | | | U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrating the |
| and require their release," the president said. | | | | Qur'an to get inmates to talk, including placing the holy |
| "Withholding these memos would only serve to deny | | | | book on a toilet and, in one case, flushing it down the |
| facts that have been in the public domain for some | | | | toilet. The report sparked anti-American riots in |
| time. This could contribute to an inaccurate accounting | | | | Afghanistan in which 17 people died. The magazine |
| of the past, and fuel erroneous and inflammatory | | | | later retracted the story, saying it was based on a U.S. |
| assumptions about actions taken by the United | | | | government source whose story was in doubt. In June |
| States." | | | | 2005, the Pentagon confirmed a list of abuses to the |
| The 126 page document include massive amounts of | | | | Qur'an, calling them relatively minor. |
| detail never before divulged by the government, | | | | The abuses included: |
| including clinical explanations of how interrogation | | | | Splashing urine on a prisoner and his Qur'an. |
| techniques were performed and the intended effects | | | | Stepping on and kicking the Qur'an, throwing water |
| on detainees. | | | | on it, and scratching an obscenity on the inside cover. |
| Guantanamo Bay history: | | | | Call for Rights and Closure: |
| On February 16, 1903, a lease agreement was | | | | Lawyers continued to challenge the Bush |
| signed by President Theodore Roosevelt with Cuba's | | | | administration policy in Guantanamo. In January 2005, |
| new government granted the U.S. "the right to use and | | | | one U.S. district judge ruled that the prisoners should be |
| occupy the waters adjacent to said areas of land and | | | | covered by the U.S. Constitution, noting, "the right not to |
| water... and generally to do any and all things | | | | be deprived of liberty without due process of law is |
| necessary to fit the premises for use as coaling or | | | | one of the most fundamental rights of the U.S. |
| naval stations only, and for no other purpose." | | | | Constitution." The administration appealed the ruling. |
| The U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay is the | | | | Britain's third most senior judge, Judge Johan Steyn, |
| oldest existing U.S. military base outside U.S. territory, | | | | criticized the U.S. for holding terror suspects in |
| and sits on a 45-square-mile area. | | | | Guantanamo, calling it a "monstrous failure of justice." |
| When the Revolution triumphed in 1959, the U.S. | | | | "By denying the prisoners the right to raise challenges |
| banned its soldiers stationed at the bay from entering | | | | in a court about their alleged status and treatment, the |
| Cuban territory. The Cuban government asserts that | | | | United States government is in breach of the minimum |
| Guantánamo should have been returned to Cuba at | | | | standards of customary international law," he said. |
| this time. | | | | February 2006, a United Nations human rights |
| In January, 2002, Guantanamo Bay turned into the | | | | report called on the United States to immediately close |
| controversial detention center. | | | | the Guantanamo detention center. |
| If you recall, late 2001 through 2002 was a fearful | | | | May 2006, another United Nations report - this one |
| period in America. After the 9/11 attacks, almost | | | | from the United Nations Committee Against Torture - |
| everyone was braced for another follow-up attack. | | | | called on the United States to stop using the prison at |
| Public awareness of al Queda and Osama bin Laden | | | | Guantanamo. |
| was becoming wide-spread in the U.S., and letters | | | | June 29, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that |
| containing the anthrax virus appeared randomly, killing 5 | | | | the military tribunals arranged by the Bush |
| people and temporarily closing down the House of | | | | administration for detainees at Guantanamo are illegal. |
| Congress, US Postal facilities, and terrified the public. | | | | July 11, 2006, a U.S. Defense department memo |
| According to the Brookings Institution, a non-profit public | | | | declared that all detainees held in |
| policy organization based out of Washington, D.C., the | | | | U.S. military custody around the world is entitled to |
| population rose to 558 in 2004, when the Pentagon | | | | protections under the Geneva Conventions. |
| instituted a review system and the number began to | | | | With the release of the highly detailed memo's many |
| decline. It was only in February of 2004 that the first of | | | | believe that there should be consequences for the |
| the Guantanamo detainees were charged. In all, 779 | | | | actions taken. Such as Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff |
| detainees had passed through the facility by late 2008. | | | | attorney (American Civil Liberties Union), who says |
| By the time President Barack Obama signed an | | | | "high-ranking officials in the Bush administration must be |
| executive order on Jan. 22, 2009, to close the center | | | | held accountable for authorizing torture. |