Should Guantanamo Bay Be Shut Down?

Should Guantanamo Bay Be Shut Down?

By Zach Miller

President Barack Obama is trying to close down Guantanamo Bay, one of the largest military bases worldwide. Guantanamo Bay, commonly referred to as “Gitmo” is a detention camp where suspected and known terrorists are held and interrogated for the safety and protection of the United States.

In the past few years, Guantanamo Bay has strung up quite the controversy around the United States, causing citizens to protest against the actions and procedures done at Guantanamo Bay. After years of people dressing as prisoners with bags over their heads, standing out in the front of the White House or Capital building, Obama is officially closing the detention camp.

But is it a good idea? Unless you want to have terrorists plotting revenge on the United States, it seems like there are a few reasons to shut it down.

Some reasons why people wouldn’t want to shut down Guantanamo Bay include the torture methods used, one method being towel over the face method in which the victim feels like they are drowning. Another reason would be that the money spent for all of this torture, since America gets very little information from terrorists.

But there are more reasons why Guantanamo Bay shouldn’t be shut down. For example, Guantanamo Bay was built for the security of the United States, it was meant to find deadly terrorists that could do extreme damage to countries. That is one of the biggest reasons why the detention camp exists. Plus Guantanamo Bay is in Cuba, so the US has some territory in Cuba.

So now Guantanamo Bay is currently going through one of the biggest decisions in US history and right now the chances of it being closed down are high. Current political candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton say that they have been supporting shutting down Guantanamo Bay for quite some time. Other candidates such as Donald Trump say that it should be kept open, but less spending should be the solution. Marco Rubio says that closing it will make the US vulnerable. Ted Cruz wants to expand it and put new terrorists in there.

In the end this is a big decision for the US to make, for the sake of its safety. Should Guantanamo bay stay open? Or should it close up shop?