It was 13 years ago, in January 2002, when the world first learnt the term “enemy combatant” or saw images of men in orange jumpsuits crouched in plasticuffs in a razor-wired compound and watched over by US soldiers who had been brought to Guantanamo Bay.
And since then, this prison camp, its jailers, the interrogation methods, force feeding, quasi-judicial trials even claims of torture have all become synonymous with America’s “War on Terror”.
The very word “Gitmo” has come to symbolise the excesses of that war.
So far, 779 men to the US they are ‘detainees’, not prisoners have been shipped to Guantanamo, beginning in January 2002. Nine have died here.
When Gulf News visited, there were 142 men still being held. Since then, 15 more have been released. Now, the Obama administration is accelerating its efforts to shut down the Guantanamo Bay jail, preparing to move dozens of inmates out of the prison in the coming months in a step forward for President Barack Obama’s redoubled attempt
to achieve a core national security objective before
he leaves office.
Sources: Gulfnews. Agency
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