Close the Guantánamo Gulag

by Prof. Marjorie Cohn

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a new treaty with Cuba that allows the United States to remain in Guantánamo Bay until the U.S. abandons it or until both Cuba and the United States agree to modify their arrangement. According to that treaty, “the stipulations of [the 1903] agreement with regard to the naval station of Guantánamo shall continue in effect.” That means Guantánamo Bay can be used only for coaling or naval stations. Additionally, article III of the 1934 treaty provides that the Republic of Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States “for coaling and naval stations.” Nowhere in either treaty did Cuba give the U.S. the right to utilize Guantánamo Bay as a prison camp.

President Barack Obama said a year ago that he was committed to closing Guantánamo because it was a symbol that was “probably the No. 1 recruiting tool” on terrorist websites. But Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which bars any transfer of detainees to U.S. prisons, even for trial. The act also restricts the President’s authority to transfer detainees to other countries. Of the 171 men remaining at Guantánamo, 89 have been cleared for release by a review conducted by the CIA, FBI, military, and Department of Homeland Security. But those men will likely die at Guantánamo because Obama refused to put the brakes on Congress’s use of the issue as a political football in the NDAA.

In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, Harvard lecturer Jonathan M. Hansen wrote, “It is past time to return this imperialist enclave to Cuba,” adding, “It has served to remind the world of America’s long history of interventionist militarism.”

Obama should heed Hansen’s words. For the abiding presence of the Guantánamo gulag is not simply illegal and immoral. It also continues to be a symbol of U.S. hypocrisy, and makes us a target for more terrorist attacks.

Full story here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28677

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Comment by Christopher on May 9, 2012 at 10:06pm: The following is a message that I later sent to "Global Research" and, Prof. Marjorie Cohn, in reference to their article:

Just this morning, I was reading your story, that was titled: Close the Guantánamo Gulag - by Prof. Marjorie Cohn - and as usual; I found it to be interesting and, educational.

When, as I do at most times, decided to do the research into the claims made by your article - I entered into time consuming searches, which typically did not result in information that could match exactly, what was in your story.

In particular; I speak of the paragraph that stated the following: "In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a new treaty with Cuba that allows the United States to remain in Guantánamo Bay until the U.S. abandons it or until both Cuba and the United States agree to modify their arrangement - Additionally, article III of the 1934 treaty provides that the Republic of Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States “for coaling and naval stations.” Nowhere in either treaty did Cuba give the U.S. the right to utilize Guantánamo Bay as a prison camp."

What I was able to find, did however, contain the importance of your paragraph: "for use as COALING or NAVAL STATIONS ONLY - AND FOR NO OTHER PURPOSE".

The statement above, does not however, appear in Article III of the 1934 Treaty - as stated in your story.

But rather; it is contained in the "Agreement Between the United States and Cuba for the Lease of Land... and in Article II of the said Agreement (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/dip_cuba002.asp).

I found that ARTICLE III (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/dip_cuba001.asp) of the "Treaty Between the United States of America and Cuba; May 29, 1934"(http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/dip_cuba001.asp) only stated the following:

"Until the two contracting parties agree to the modification or abrogation of the stipulations of the agreement in regard to the lease to the United States of America of lands in Cuba for coaling and naval stations signed by the President of the Republic of Cuba on February 16, 1903, and by the President of the United States of America on the 23d day of the same month and year, the stipulations of that agreement with regard to the naval station of Guantanamo shall continue in effect. The supplementary agreement in regard to naval or coaling stations signed between the two Governments on July 2, 1903, also shall continue in effect in the same form and on the same conditions with respect to the naval station at Guantanamo. So long as the United States of America shall not abandon the said naval station of Guantanamo or the two Governments shall not agree to a modification of its present limits, the station shall continue to have the territorial area that it now has, with the limits that it has on the date of the signature of the present Treaty."

As I mentioned earlier - the essence, and or importance of the point made in your story, is still clearly stated - and more than likely - unchanged from the 1903 Agreement, to 1934 Treaty - "for use as COALING or NAVAL STATIONS ONLY - AND FOR NO OTHER PURPOSE".

I just felt a need to advise you of this - it was only in an effort to remove any fuel, which may have been used in the fires, that would surely have been set by those wishing to dispel any truths, other that what 'they' perceive as so, and would have us believe too, at all costs.