10 Years at Guantánamo Bay

I note another sad anniversary in these days of endless war and the death throes of the Bill of Rights by reprinting a short but powerful piece from ThinkProgress.
Manuel Ramos
__________________________________________________________

This article was created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

By The Numbers: 10 Years At Guantánamo Bay

By Eli Clifton on Jan 11, 2012

The 10-year anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, offers few opportunities for celebration. The prison has been described as “arguably the most expensive prison on earth” and human rights activists have voiced concerns about detainees’ lack of access to the U.S. court system and a steady stream of reports of abuse and torture. The 10-year history of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp can best be evaluated through the human and economic costs imposed on both the U.S. taxpayers and detainees. Here are some relevant numbers:

10 years since the first 20 detainees arrived at Guantánamo Bay’s Camp X-Ray

1 year, 11 months, 21 days since President Barack Obama’s deadline to close Gitmo

779 detainees incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay since 2002

600 detainees have been released

242 detainees at Gitmo when Obama took office

171 detainees still held at Guantánamo Bay

89 detainees still held after being cleared for release

92 percent of prisoners were never al Qaeda fighters according to the U.S. government

86 percent of detainees were turned over after payment of a bounty

13 years old, the age of the youngest detainee

89 years old, the age of the oldest detainee

8 detainee deaths since 2002

6 detainee deaths by suicide

3 alleged detainee homicides from “dry boarding”

$139 million per year to keep the Guantánamo Bay prison open

$800,000 per year to house each detainee

6 detainees convicted by military commissions

6 detainees currently charged by military commission prosecutor

0 detainees released in the past year

ThinkProgress intern Fatima Najiy contributed to this post.

_________________________________

Interview

I did an interview for Corina Martinez Chaudhry of The LatinoAuthor.com. It should be posted on that site on Monday, January 16. The LatinoAuthor.com is a "forum that brings Published Authors, Emerging Latino Authors and Readers together." Check it out.

Later.