# Guantanemo Bay Revisited **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 15, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618 "2006-02-15T12:14:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/21 "2006-02-17T13:10:50Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Not at all. There is a need for a place to imprison suspected terrorists before trial and convicted terrorists afterwards. I’m quite happy with that place being 90 miles off our shores rather than in suburban Los Angeles. I agree with you in so many ways on this issue. Putting on my tinfoil hat, I think the reason that these people are held out of country, is so the gubmint won’t have to actually file charges and hold trial. I think they thought it would be easier to hide things out of country. Re the old “they don’t have rights because it is not American soil” type of argument. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/22 "2006-02-17T14:08:12Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Not at all. There is a need for a place to imprison suspected terrorists before trial and convicted terrorists afterwards. I’m quite happy with that place being 90 miles off our shores rather than in suburban Los Angeles. Well, yeah: those two choices were obviously the only possible alternatives. No possible way to imprison these people in a facility in western Texas, eastern Montana, northern Wyoming, western North Dakota…you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/23 "2006-02-17T14:22:59Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Well, yeah: those two choices were obviously the only possible alternatives. > > No possible way to imprison these people in a facility in western Texas, eastern Montana, northern Wyoming, western North Dakota…you get the idea. Don’t be an idiot. “Suburban LA” was simply a random geographic location plucked out of the ether. I’d rather terrorists be imprisioned in Cuba than anywhere in the continental U.S. or Alaska or Hawaii. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/24 "2006-02-17T20:21:34Z")
Minor point of obfuscation: my understanding as to the choice of Guantanamo was the polite fiction that Guantanamo legally belongs to Cuba, hence, it isn’t really part of the US, and therefore Federal laws do not necessarily apply unless they are found to be convenient. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/25 "2006-02-17T22:48:09Z")
The Solicitor-General of the United States left his office 1 day before the United States government lost 3 major human rights cases before the Supreme Court. This will in time be the remembered legacy of this administration. How nice of the independent judiciary to give him that notice and spare his feelings. Anyway, one of the issues decided is that Guantanamo is within the reach of US Federal law, this not being a matter for the executive to decide. They’re in a pickle now. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/26 "2006-02-17T23:28:51Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > Don’t be an idiot. Don’t worry, I won’t horn in on your territory. > [@](#): > > “Suburban LA” was simply a random geographic location plucked out of the ether. I’d rather terrorists be imprisioned in Cuba than anywhere in the continental U.S. or Alaska or Hawaii. Then you might want to say what you later say you mean in the first place, rather than comparing your preference with a worst-case alternative. I, too, would rather have terrorists imprisoned in Cuba than anywhere on the mainland, if we’ve got hundreds of them. But that seems kinda unnecessary for the twenty or so genuine terrorists we may have amongst all the “here’s this guy I don’t like, now give me my money” captives. I hear Spandau Prison might be available… ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/27 "2006-02-18T12:39:43Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Minor point of obfuscation: my understanding as to the choice of Guantanamo was the polite fiction that Guantanamo legally belongs to Cuba, hence, it isn’t really part of the US, and therefore Federal laws do not necessarily apply unless they are found to be convenient. …I haven’t seen you posting for a while **elucidator** , its good to see you again! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Asuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@Asuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/28 "2022-11-10T02:06:36Z")
There is a great deal more to the base than a prison. ---
**Author:** ![Asuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@Asuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618/29 "2022-11-10T02:15:08Z")
Currently they are being held by the military as a war combatant. If they are housed in the United States they would be under the United States Department of Justice jurisdiction. That would give them rights they do not have as combatant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guantanemo-bay-revisited/344618.md?page=1)