# What going on with the Guantánamo Bay detainment camp situation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 25, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532 "2006-12-25T16:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/1 "2006-12-25T16:21:28Z")
[This has been off of the main news radar for a bit now](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detainment_camp). What’s going on with these prisoners currently? Why the hell is sorting them out taking such an insanely long time? Why hasn’t a judge put a stop to this? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/2 "2006-12-25T16:27:53Z")
A basketful of Saudis arrived Riyadh last week or so. They were allowed to meet with their families and then detained for questioning. Of course, I have no information as to how many people arrived in Cuba to balance the outflow. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/3 "2006-12-25T17:09:02Z")
[QUOTE=astro] [This has been off of the main news radar for a bit now](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detainment_camp). What’s going on with these prisoners currently? [/quote] [This Link](http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/currentawareness/guantanamo.php), from your wikipedia cite seems to be a good summary. > [@](#): > > Why the hell is sorting them out taking such an insanely long time? My opinion: It’s in Bush’s advantage to draw out the process as long as possible, and to leave it to “future presidents” to deal with. > [@](#): > > Why hasn’t a judge put a stop to this? How would a judge do that? In fact, it’s the slow moving wheels of the justice system (especially wrt judicial reivew of laws by the SCOTUS) that plays in Bush’s favor in terms of drawing the whole processs out as long as possible. Appeal/counter appeal takes a long time. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/4 "2006-12-25T17:40:07Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] My opinion: It’s in Bush’s advantage to draw out the process as long as possible, and to leave it to “future presidents” to deal with. [/QUOTE] Why would that be to his advantage? For that matter, why is it to his (or anyone’s) advantage to have the prisoners there in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/5 "2006-12-25T17:46:52Z")
[Quote=John Mace] > [@astro](#): > > Why hasn’t a judge put a stop to this? How would a judge do that? In fact, it’s the slow moving wheels of the justice system (especially wrt judicial reivew of laws by the SCOTUS) that plays in Bush’s favor in terms of drawing the whole processs out as long as possible. Appeal/counter appeal takes a long time. [/quote] Isn’t it also true that unless a prisoner’s case is already in the works they have no way of getting in front of a judge now that they’re denied _habeas corpus_? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/6 "2006-12-25T17:48:32Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why would that be to his advantage? For that matter, why is it to his (or anyone’s) advantage to have the prisoners there in the first place? [/QUOTE] Bush may very well think these guys are the “worst of the worst”, but it’s going to be very hard for him to prove that they are. Blunders were made, and the less amount of information about these guys’ stories gets out the better (for Bush). I think he knows he can’t keep most of them imprisoned if they get a fair hearing, or a hearing that will stand up to SCOTUS scrutiny. He never intended them to have the kind of review that the SCOTUS wants them to have, so he’ll just drag things out and let Hillary or McCain do the hard work. And, yes, that was a prediction about '08. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/7 "2006-12-25T21:30:48Z")
They are probably our enemies now, even if they weren’t when they arrived. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/8 "2006-12-25T22:36:09Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] They are probably our enemies now, even if they weren’t when they arrived. [/QUOTE] Probably. And I still think that, purely as a pragmatic matter, that we’d be safer overall if we just released them and shut that place down. And that doesn’t even get into the matter of what the right thing to do is… ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-going-on-with-the-guantanamo-bay-detainment-camp-situation/385532/9 "2006-12-26T10:21:44Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] They are probably our enemies now, even if they weren’t when they arrived. [/QUOTE] Astute - but not necessarily accurate. Things might not be what they seem to be.