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مركزغوانتناموللعدالة Guantanamo Justice Centre |
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Main Obstacles to closing Guantanamo
Eight years ago today the Bush regime opened their detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It went on to become a notorious symbol of the torture and racism that people the world over associated with the U.S. “war on terror.” As we mark this anniversary, many people hoped Barack Obama’s promise to close Guantánamo by Jan 22, 2010 would close that chapter. But there are 2 things in the way of that: 1) Regardless of the president’s expressed intention to close Guantánamo “in the interests of justice,” his administration is holding on to indefinite detention and even proposing preventive detention; killing more civilians with unmanned drones than Bush did; and expanding the Bush arguments for executive powers. The lunatics in Congress who say that “all terrorists are Muslim,” therefore, any repression is justified against whole countries have all the initiative and will not allow even a symbolic closing of one part of the US torture state. 2) If one wanted to stop the abuse it would be necessary to prosecute and hold accountable the crimes against humanity commited by the Bush regime, and Obama has said he will not. At the same time, the torture, the cover-ups and the justifications of it are so heinous, and continue to create such outrage from the populations the U.S. occupations seek to pacify, that the spectre of scandal still looms over the whole enterprise of the so-called “war on terror.” The righteous indignation — and opposition — of a people who says “no, not in our name!” expressed with visible, public determination could create a situation where more people see Obama’s Guantánamo as illegitmate. And that’s where we come in
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