During his State of the Union address, President Trump said he will keep the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba open. He also promised to fill it up with a raft of new abductees.
On January 30, Trump signed an executive order titled “Presidential Executive Order on Protecting America Through Lawful Detention of Terrorists.”
He said “I am also asking the Congress to ensure that, in the fight against ISIS and al-Qaeda, we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists—wherever we chase them down.”
“The United States may transport additional detainees to U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay when lawful and necessary to protect the nation.”
Trump gave his Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, 90 days to come up with a policy “governing transfer of individuals” in collaboration with the Secretary of State, Attorney General, Secretary of Homeland Security, Director of National Intelligence, and others.
In 2016, while on the campaign trail in Sparks, Nevada Trump responded to President Obama’s promise to close down the facility.
“This morning, I watched President Obama talking about Gitmo, right, Guantanamo Bay, which by the way, we are keeping open. Which we are keeping open... and we're gonna load it up with some bad dudes, believe me, we're gonna load it up,” he said.
Many of those “bad dudes” may be American citizens accused by the government of engaging in terrorism. He said American suspects do not deserve protection afforded by the Sixth Amendment.
The Amendment states: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”
“I know that they want to try them in our regular court systems, and I don't like that at all. I don't like that at all. I would say they could be tried there, that'll be fine,” Trump said.
It appears Trump approves of the mass human rights violations occurring at the camp, including torture.
Soon after assuming office last January, he was asked if torture works and he responded “the answer is yes, absolutely.”
Scientists have repeatedly debunked government claims that torture results in useful intelligence. [READ MORE]
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