The election of Sen. Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States is clearly a watershed moment in American history. A mere 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., in a country still riddled with memories of lynchings and segregation, America is sending a black man to the Oval Office.
Even if this momentous occasion does not close the book on America’s shameful history of race relationships, the president-elect is already planning to end another shameful chapter in American history by shutting down the U.S. naval base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, effectively ending the American torture regime.
Atrocities are a byproduct of war, even for Americans. The War Department encouraged front-line atrocities against the Japanese during World War II. A quota system of kills imposed on American soldiers during the Vietnam War led to an increase in civilian casualties. But America never legally sanctioned the torture of prisoners of war until this decade. During World War II, propaganda posters decried torture as “the weapon of the enemy,” using pictures that bear a frightening resemblance to the images we have seen from Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.
Throughout the presidential campaign, conservatives on campus and at Sarah Palin rallies called the president-elect a communist, but it has been President George W. Bush and the Republican Party who have employed communist tactics in their sorry execution of the War on Terror, compromising our values while saving the lives of zero Americans. Masking this sick moral equivocation behind the Orwellian term “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the administration quietly approved and employed methods like sleep deprivation, stress positions and simulated drowning that were frequently used and openly taught by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Shutting down Guantanamo creates certain public policy problems, but the restoration of our values and our reputation is worth the trouble. Many of the prisoners, innocent bystanders caught in the throes of Islamic extremism and American militarism, will simply be released. Others will be tried in U.S. civilian courts. A few, however, are legitimate security concerns, and another legal framework will be required to protect classified information. That the president-elect acknowledges this shows his commitment to both our values and our security.
Guantanamo is not the whole problem. Although shutting it down is more than symbolism, it is a key act in restoring our reputation in the world and shoring up better relations with longstanding allies. America needs to show its commitment to working with the world, not against it, and shutting down Guantanamo shows a renewed commitment to the legitimacy of international law, human rights and our Constitutional principles.
The mere elevation of an African-American to the Oval Office has been cause enough to celebrate the affirmation of American values – a sweet ratification of the principles embedded in the Declaration of Independence. Closing Guantanamo is another cause for celebration, as it is the first step in undoing the moral deficits of the outgoing administration. Good riddance.
Matthew Struhar is a senior in history and political science. He can be reached at [email protected].
