NATIONAL SECURITY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES ISSUES TEAM

Although presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama have declared their desire to shut down the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility, neither has signed as a co-sponsor. 

*Interrogation practices at Guantanamo have reportedly included the use of waterboarding and other torture tactics in violation of the Geneva Conventions

*Bush's former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "If it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo -- not tomorrow, this afternoon," explaining that "we have shaken the belief that the world had in America's justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open."

*Defense Secretary Robert Gates reportedly pushed to close Gitmo because he felt the detention facility had "become so tainted abroad that legal proceedings at Guantanamo would be viewed as illegitimate."

More information: 

Visit the website of the American Civil Liberties Union to read their paper on Guantanamo Bay Detention Center:

Tomorrow, January 11, 2008, marks six years since men and boys from around the world were first shipped off to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, locked up and often abused by the American government. Since that dark day in recent American history, more than 700 people have been detained without due process and not a single trial has been completed. The American Civil Liberties Union reiterates its call to Congress to shut down the detention facility immediately and restore due process rights for those being held.
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/33623prs20080110.html

Visit the website of Senator Tom Harkin and read his essay on his bill. 

"The military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has undermined America's reputation around the globe. The time has come to shut it down and to charge those terrorists who have been caught. Only then will we regain our moral leadership and our ability to rally support in our fight against terrorism." 
http://www.tomharkin.com/issues/guantanamo%20bay

Visit the website of Firedoglake and listen to Tom Harkin speaking out to close Guantanamo Bay Detention Center and read an interview on this subject. 

...“As a young staffer on the Hill, I helped to expose the tiger cages at Con Son Island, where Viet Cong and North Vietnamese prisoners, as well as civilian opponents of the war, were being held incommunicado, tortured and killed with the full knowledge and sanction of the U.S. government. I believe there are disturbing parallels between what transpired on Con Son Island nearly four decades ago and what has happened at Guantanamo in recent years.
http://firedoglake.com/2007/09/05/a-few-minutes-with-sen-tom-harkin/