Close Gitmo and Help Solve the Debt Crisis

(JTF Guantanamo photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Gino Reyes)

It is not news to any taxpayer in the country that the United States is facing a debt crisis and that public spending is under scrutiny like never before, yet one decade-long drain on the public exchequer has so far escaped the financial meltdown completely unscathed: The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp.

The main detention facility at Gitmo cost about $220 million to build and, according to the White House, estimated annual operating expenses come in at around $150 million.

To give you an idea of the kind of value for money this investment represents, the Bureau of Prisons noted last year that it cost $27,251 to incarcerate someone in the federal prison system for a year, as compared to an estimated cost of $650,000 per inmate at Guantanamo.

In additional to the hundreds of millions of dollars lavished on the detention facilities, still more money has been poured into the development of courtrooms for the Military Commissions which, since their establishment in 2006, have only heard six cases.

The so-called Expeditionary Judicial Facility, built for $13.4 million in the heady days when the authorities thought the Military Commissions might actually be capable of hearing two whole cases at the same time, has only been used once since its construction.

The Department of Defense spent $2.2 million renovating accommodation for staff and observers involved in the trials which also currently stands empty.

Then there are the improvements made to the Naval Station itself, which has benefited from ancillary construction projects worth an estimated $500 million, including the construction of a go-cart track, an all-weather sports field, a volleyball court and twenty-seven playgrounds.

There are around 5,500 people living at the Naval Station, including 400 minors hopefully making the most of all those playgrounds, which must make the non-custodial residents of Guantanamo Bay one of the most heavily subsidized communities on American soil.

Last year, the Washington Post estimated that the total post-9/11 bill for spending on Guantanamo comes close to $2 billion. Yes, that’s $2 billion with a ‘b’ for a prison camp that currently holds around 170 prisoners, more than half of whom the administration would release tomorrow if a suitable country could be found to take them.

So, I have a modest proposal to make both parties. Close Guantanamo. Transfer the prisoners you can actually make a case against to federal court and release those you can’t. Then return the money saved to the treasury. That’s a lot of pocket change – change you can actually believe in.

Take action now to stop Congress from making Guantanamo permanent!

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6 thoughts on “Close Gitmo and Help Solve the Debt Crisis

  1. contrast between the use of gentle language of self interest for getting rid gimo to usa and fierce denunciation and indictment of non west for crimes violations( stated in positive not as the allegations they are) in other posts in this blog tell its own tale .

    no war crimes here . no human rights violations . just a waste of money.

    amnesty does not want gitmo closed bc it is murderous war crime committed by obama and bush, but bc it saves money so that obama can kill innocent children in pakistan ( see below )


    why does amnesty engage is this hypocritical racist double standard ?

    bc amnesty is a hypocritical and racist tool of western oppression of rest of the world.

    while it is quick to accuse non west, not obedient to west, of violations human rights and crimes against humanity, even on no or flimsy evidence, it is yet to accuse usa and rest of its cronies of same even with very solid evidence.

    how many more children have to die by the hands of brutal military forces of west acting under obama's orders before amnesty call him a war criminal ? (over 160 children have died from american drone attacks in pakistan upto now. google to find substantiated facts and pics on this. hundreds and thousands more children and innocent adults were killed in iraq,libya, and afghanistan, to mention only the current overt acts of western aggression).
    why is amnesty not trying to bring bush in front of a war crimes court?

    why does amnesty apply this double standard? these selective accusations against non western leaders and countries helps west to keep them in line and obedient to west and answerable to western tools instead of their own people.

    as long as amnesty, fails to accuse western leaders and countries in the same way as others, and continues to apply double standards, it is guilty of racist hypocrisy . don't support this racist hypocritical , tool of western oppression.

  2. Dear Sittingnut,

    Amnesty has consistently condemned enhanced interrogation techniques as torture, extraordinary rendition as enforced disappearance, and internment as indefinite detention. The movement has also consistently campaigned for the prosecution of international crimes, including those committed by members of the Bush administration. Quite apart from numerous posts on this blog to this effect, you might wish to review some of Amnesty's recent reports – I would recommend our 2008 report Investigation, Prosecution, Remedy (AMR 51/151/2008) as a good starting point.

  3. contrast between the use of gentle language of self interest for getting rid gimo to usa and fierce denunciation and indictment of non west for crimes violations( stated in positive not as the allegations they are) in other posts in this blog tell its own tale .

    no war crimes here . no human rights violations . just a waste of money.

    amnesty does not want gitmo closed bc it is murderous war crime committed by obama and bush, but bc it saves money so that obama can kill innocent children in pakistan ( see below )


    why does amnesty engage is this hypocritical racist double standard ?

    bc amnesty is a hypocritical and racist tool of western oppression of rest of the world.

    while it is quick to accuse non west, not obedient to west, of violations human rights and crimes against humanity, even on no or flimsy evidence, it is yet to accuse usa and rest of its cronies of same even with very solid evidence.

    how many more children have to die by the hands of brutal military forces of west acting under obama’s orders before amnesty call him a war criminal ? (over 160 children have died from american drone attacks in pakistan upto now. google to find substantiated facts and pics on this. hundreds and thousands more children and innocent adults were killed in iraq,libya, and afghanistan, to mention only the current overt acts of western aggression).
    why is amnesty not trying to bring bush in front of a war crimes court?

    why does amnesty apply this double standard? these selective accusations against non western leaders and countries helps west to keep them in line and obedient to west and answerable to western tools instead of their own people.

    as long as amnesty, fails to accuse western leaders and countries in the same way as others, and continues to apply double standards, it is guilty of racist hypocrisy . don’t support this racist hypocritical , tool of western oppression.

  4. Dear Sittingnut,

    Amnesty has consistently condemned enhanced interrogation techniques as torture, extraordinary rendition as enforced disappearance, and internment as indefinite detention. The movement has also consistently campaigned for the prosecution of international crimes, including those committed by members of the Bush administration. Quite apart from numerous posts on this blog to this effect, you might wish to review some of Amnesty’s recent reports – I would recommend our 2008 report Investigation, Prosecution, Remedy (AMR 51/151/2008) as a good starting point.

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