2012: Guantánamo Bay detainee recidivism rates have been all over the news this week, but statistics vary between reports. According to some sources, referencing a report by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, 27.9 percent of the 599 former Guantánamo Bay detainees are believed to have returned to military activity. But according to the Associated…

“Strictly speaking, the written accent on the second syllable (Guantánamo) is required to indicate the proper Spanish pronunciation. To Americans this is unnecessary. In the half century of United States occupancy, the accent has disappeared. Guantanamo Bay is in effect a bit of American territory, and so it will probably remain as long as we…

2012: This week, in the first ever plea deal between a “high value” detainee and the U.S. government, Guantánamo detainee Majid Khan pleaded guilty to terror charges. Deemed a “high value” prisoner by President George W. Bush, his charges include conspiring with al-Qaeda, murder, and attempted murder. As a condition of his plea agreement, he…

“Guantánamo Bay prison is necessary” By Edwin Meese III The detention and interrogation facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which I have visited, has served and continues to serve an important role in the war against terrorists since it opened 10 years ago. It houses high-value terrorist detainees, like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of September…

Gitmo at Ten: By Scott Horton On January 11, 2002, the first prisoners from the Bush Administration’s “War on Terror” were landed at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, a forty-five-square-mile enclave at the eastern end of Cuba that America secured in a 1903 treaty and has held ever since. Today marks the tenth anniversary of…

2012: This week, a federal appeals court ruled against a lawsuit filed by the families of 2 Guantánamo detainees who allegedly committed suicide while at the naval base. The appeals court ruling is based on the 2006 congressional Military Commissions Act, which prevents U.S. courts from ruling on Guantánamo detainee treatment. In June 2006 Guantánamo…

2012 This week marks the beginning of detainee Shaker Aamer’s second decade at Guantánamo Bay. In 2002 Aamer was arrested in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He is a Saudia Arabian British resident, and was allegedly in Afghanistan working for a Saudi charity. No charges have been filed against him. Activists and international NGOs continue to call for…

In the 10 years since the Guantánamo detention camp opened, the anguished debate over whether to shutter the facility — or make it permanent — has obscured a deeper failure that dates back more than a century and implicates all Americans: namely, our continued occupation of Guantánamo itself. It is past time to return this…

2012 This week, Guantánamo attorneys were prevented from subpoenaing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh regarding alleged Al Qaida bomber Abd al Rahim al Nashiri. Nashiri in implicated in the USS Cole bombing off Aden, Yemen in October 2000. Saleh is currently in the U.S. receiving medical treatment, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has given…

A growing group of universities is collaborating to foster a national dialogue on the history of Guantánamo and its lessons for the present and future. The Gitmo Memory blog is the hub for the Guantanamo Public Memory National Dialogue. Through the National Dialogue, Students at partner institutions will share their experiences and reflections in real…