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1. Factsheet: War on Terror

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
08-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
The Global War on Terror (GWoT) is an international military campaign launched by the United States under President George W. Bush following the September 11th, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda. Dubbed the ‘Forever Wars,’ this conflict is a borderless and timeless campaign that has touched nearly 40 percent of the world, cost the United States an estimated $8 trillion, and has killed more than 900,000 people (although the actual death toll is likely to be much higher). The WoT discourse amplified Islamophobia as it dehumanized Muslims by tying them to terrorism and constructing them as ‘inherently violent’ and a threat. Along with formal military warfare, the WoT has also comprised of large-scale surveillance measures in the U.S, torture, global drone strikes, blacksites, and the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
Topic:
Torture, Drones, Surveillance, Islamophobia, War on Terror, George W. Bush, and Guantanamo Bay
Political Geography:
Middle East, North America, and United States of America

2. Guantanamo Bay Military Prison: Narratives and Numbers

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
The Guantánamo Bay Data Project serves as a central source of information on the Guantánamo Bay Military Prison. This project provides a comprehensive picture of the prison, centering the lives of the boys and men detained at the naval base. It depicts the global impact Guantánamo has had on the lives of hundreds of Muslims, their families, and communities as a whole. Many discussions of the U.S. Guantánamo base focus solely on the role, legal rationale, costs, and management of the U.S. government. However, this project seeks to highlight the trauma inflicted upon those held at the prison and the larger ‘war on terror’ apparatus that has wielded Islamophobia to justify the 780 Muslim boys and men, many of whom were subject to . This resource provides visualized demographic data on every single person who has been imprisoned at Guantánamo, including age, country of origin, country of repatriation, “non-enemy combatant” status, and listed mental illnesses. We also provide an overview of the history, laws, and policies of the naval prison, a more in-depth discussion of the aggregated data, the status of those who remain imprisoned, and future plans for the prison.
Topic:
Torture, Prisons/Penal Systems, War on Terror, and Guantanamo Bay
Political Geography:
North America, United States of America, and Guantanamo

3. Factsheet: The History and Evolution of Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, located in Cuba, was chosen as the site of a detention center due to its uncertain legal status—allowing the U.S. government to argue that those detained at the base were not entitled to certain rights under U.S. laws. The prison at the base consists of several distinct camps, each with differing security levels, transparency, and categories of detainees. Former President Barack Obama promised to close the prison but failed to do so. Former President Donald Trump pledged to not only keep the prison open but fill it with more detainees. Current President Joe Biden has promised to shut down the military prison.
Topic:
Prisons/Penal Systems, War on Terror, Detention, and Guantanamo Bay
Political Geography:
Cuba, North America, and United States of America

4. Factsheet: The Human Cost of Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
Guantánamo Bay military prison is a site of egregious and ongoing human rights violations perpetrated by the United States government. Opened in early 2002 on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the prison has housed 780 adults and minors from around the world—all Muslim—most of whom have been subjected to torture and severe abuse at the hands of the U.S. armed forces and the CIA. Most were never formally charged with any crime and were detained for years without trial. As of 2022, thirty-nine remain imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay prison.
Topic:
Human Rights, Torture, Prisons/Penal Systems, War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay, and Arbitrary Detentions
Political Geography:
Cuba, North America, and United States of America

5. Factsheet: Legal Challenges to Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
U.S. legislation and case law have both upheld and challenged the legal authority of the Guantánamo Bay military prison. This includes the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, as well as Supreme Court cases such as Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) and Boumediene v. Bush (2008). Serious legal issues have arisen around the legal rights and protections of those imprisoned, including the right to habeas corpus and the right to be tried under the U.S. legal system (as opposed to U.S. military tribunals). Attorneys for those imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay military prison have been subjected to surveillance and interference by the U.S. government, and the U.S. government tightly controls the release of information about the military prison and those imprisoned there.
Topic:
Human Rights, Law, Guantanamo Bay, and Habeas Corpus
Political Geography:
Cuba, United States of America, and Guantanamo

6. Factsheet: Torture at Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp

Author:
Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:
A majority of those imprisoned at the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp were subjected to various forms of physical and psychological abuse—techniques that were developed by two American psychologists contracted by the CIA to develop its torture program. The torture included but was not limited to waterboarding, sexual harassment and abuse, physical abuse, and sleep deprivation. Those formerly imprisoned still experience physical and psychological distress and trauma as a result of their treatment in Guantánamo Bay. A 2014 U.S. Senate intelligence report found the torture program was ineffective in its stated goal of obtaining military intelligence.
Topic:
Human Rights, Torture, Trauma, and Guantanamo Bay
Political Geography:
Cuba, United States of America, and Guantanamo

7. The Applicability of International and Domestic Immigration Law to Relocated Guantanamo Detainees

Author:
Sarah Weiner
Publication Date:
11-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Legal Challenges, Yale Law School
Abstract:
The physical relocation of detainees from Guantanamo to the United States would not meaningfully alter U.S. obligations under domestic immigration law or international law concerning refoulement. Domestic immigration law would not affect U.S. authority to bring aliens into the United States and to detain those aliens under the laws of war. Detainees would not enter the United States as immigrants, but rather would remain legally “at the border” during their detention. If a detainee secures his release from law-of-war detention, then the United States would be prohibited from transferring the former detainee to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. This obligation applies equally to detainees held at Guantanamo and in the United States. If the United States could not find a suitable country to accept the former detainee, then the United States may have the authority to hold the alien indefinitely in immigration detention, provided that his custody meets statutory requirements. This authority is constitutionally untested and potentially inconsistent with obligations under international law, but these concerns would apply equally to both Guantanamo- and U.S.-located former detainees.
Topic:
International Law, Immigration, Law, Guantanamo Bay, and Detainees
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America