Through all the debacles associated with the previous administration, there was always that puzzling 25 percent of Americans who insisted Bush was a decent head of state. But with Barack Obama inaugurated as president, the remaining 75 percent, including myself, are expecting a significant shift in substance and policy. In one of his first executive orders, the new president did not disappoint.
With a dramatic shift from the previous administration, Barack Obama issued the first steps toward the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities. Now, President Obama must answer a new question: What is to be done with each of the remaining prisoners?
Traditionally, this is a debate dominated by ideologues. There remain strident conservatives convinced that Guantanamo and its activities were as American as baseball. Equally vociferous activists counter this by demanding the release of every detainee, no questions asked. It has been framed as a mutually exclusive choice: our country's safety or our moral standards? Yet I believe a politician as shrewd as Obama should - and will - realize neither need to be compromised.
First, we'll start with the easy part. Of the approximately 250 detainees remaining, all but between 50 to 70 have no charges being pressed against them. With not even a traffic violation on their record, we have only one legal option: let them go. One does not need to be a fervent legal scholar to realize when habeas corpus is being violated.
To outline a reasonable procedure for processing the remaining Gitmo detainees - the ones we know are dangerous - let's examine the case of Mohammed al-Qahtani. Suspected of planning the 9/11 attacks, he was captured during fighting in Afghanistan and detained in Guantanamo by January 2002. For over six months, he was interrogated and subjected to sleep deprivation, forced nudity, extended exposure to cold temperatures. It wouldn't take a doctor to understand the effect this had on Qahtani's health. His heartbeat frequently dropped below the normal 60 beats per minute, sometimes hitting as low as 30.
Ask anyone and they'll say this is torture, save of course former Vice President Dick Cheney. But unlike Cheney and others, Obama has the opportunity fix the situation. Torture and unlawful confinement cannot be associated with the United States. Basic human rights cannot be compromised. For detainees similar to Qahtani, testimony obtained through torture should be found invalid in their respective trials.
With this so-called evidence gone, the prosecution of Qahtani and many others will stall. As Obama's justice team examines the Guantanamo cases, they will realize that many of the detainees cannot be tried in a just court of law. So, what is to be done? Qahtani and others seem to be in legal limbo; they are too dangerous to simply release, yet cannot be reasonably tried under American legal system.
This provides Obama with yet another chance to separate himself from Bush. Obama should reclassify these remaining detainees as prisoners of war under Article Three of the Geneva Conventions. Following both constitutional and international legal obligations, detainees may be held as POWs for the duration of the conflict, maintaining they be granted humane treatment. As soon as the conflict in Afghanistan ends, Qahtani and fellow detainees would be released. While adhering to international law, Obama need not make unnecessary compromises in national security.
Admittedly, this procedure would be complex. Determining which detainees can be released, lawfully prosecuted or detained as POWs will take months, perhaps over a year. But American ideals must not be carelessly tossed aside in search for safety. For as Obama stated last Tuesday, "Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake."
Joe Wenner is a freshman in the School of International Service and a moderate columnist for The Eagle. You can reach him at edpage@theeagleonline.com.
