US "War on Terror" Math: Guantanamo Shutdown = More Pakistan Drone Strikes

From the first days of the Obama Administration, we've how US agencies --- especially the Pentagon --- have waged a campaign to prevent the President's promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison from becoming reality. This, however, may be the most creative line....

If we close Guantanamo, we will have to kill many more people with drone strikes in Pakistan.

This week Adam Entous of Reuters posted an article, "How the White House Learned to Love the Drone", with revelations such as, "An analysis of data provided to Reuters by U.S. government sources shows that the CIA has killed around 12 times more low-level fighters than mid-to-high-level al Qaeda and Taliban leaders since the drone strikes intensified in the summer of 2008." (The article also notes that even more civilians than "fighters" --- 20 to 150% more --- also die.)


These paragraphs jump out:

Some current and former counterterrorism officials say an unintended consequence of these decisions may be that capturing wanted militants has become a less viable option. As one official said: "There is nowhere to put them."

A former U.S. intelligence official, who was involved in the process until recently, said: "I got the sense: 'What the hell do we do with this guy if we get him?' It's not the primary consideration but it has to be a consideration."

Of course, there is a boiler-plate denial from a "senior US official", who claims, "Any comment along the lines of 'there is nowhere to put captured militants' would be flat wrong. Over the past 16 months, the U.S. has worked closely with its counterterrorism partners in South Asia and around the world to capture, detain, and interrogate hundreds of militants and terrorists."

The cold fact remains that President Obama has not tolerated the drone strikes --- he has embraced and increased them.

Now to the colder political question on the other side of the world. Even though the Guantanamo shutdown = more strikes rationale is flimsy --- where is the evidence that those released from Camp X-Ray would be dashing off to Pakistan? And what of the alternatives such as actually trying these supposed terrorists in a civilian courtroom? --- that doesn't mean it will disappear.

So, under the rationale that its existence means the US won't kill quite as many people in Pakistan (even American officials say that only 39 of 500 killed by the drone strikes were "high-" or "mid-level" targets), will Guantanamo still be standing as global testimony to US justice this time next year?

Comments

[Montgomery J. Granger]

First, the photo you show is from January, 2002. Detainees were temporarily staged in this holding area before being processed into temporary cells at Camp X-Ray. By late April, 2002, all detainees were housed in a new facility named Camp Delta. I was there along with many other outstanding military personnel, doing the distastful job of treating al Qaeda, Taliban, mercianries and soldiers-of-fortune with dignity and respect. This facility was chosen because it is the absolutely most secure place for detainees and those American personnel who protect them. It is also logistically and geographically ideal. There should be zero hesitation in filling the place up if that's what it takes to defeat the enemy. I am shocked that one of the reasons given for closing the place is that released detainees said it was bad. C'mon, this is a war - do you really think they would all say it was like the Marriot? It doesn't matter where you put them, they are sworn to disrupt detention operations and lie about their captors. Wake up and small the blood and sand! We have been at war with male Muslim radacals since 1979 and the killing of CPL Steven Crowley of the Marine Corps was killed defending the U.S> Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. We have troops in over 70 countries world wide, some we defeated over 65 years ago. There is a Global War on Terror going on, and we need to stop talking about detainees as if they were caught jay-walking or robbing a bank. They are some of the worst war criminals on earth, and need to be dealt with as fairly as possible, but let's not invent rights that they have taken absolutely no responsibility towards to earn.

SIncerely, Montgomery J. Granger, Major, Medical Service, USAR (Ret.)

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