Comparison: Bush v. Obama and Guantanamo Detention Center

The “War on Terror” that began days after the September 11th attacks was declared by President George W. Bush and has continued under President Barack Obama. President Bush wanted to restore the security of the United States. Many of the policies he enacted, while controversial, are still used by the current administration. One of these policies was the operation of the Guantanamo Bay detention center. While it has had far reaching domestic effects it is still a foreign policy issue by nature. The prisoners that have been held in Guantanamo come from all over the world, including Algeria, China, and Pakistan. The governments of these countries and many others are interested in seeing Guantanamo Bay emptied and shut down, either because they have citizens who are being held there or because of the human rights’ abuses that have been perpetrated there (these abuses were standard policy at this facility in particular, separating it from any other with a similar purpose). This essay will look at the history and respective policies of the Bush and Obama administrations concerning Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the effects those policies have had on U.S. foreign policy.

The Guantanamo facility came into being as a result of the United States’ military operation in Afghanistan and the capture of suspected terrorists that occurred during that time. On January 11, 2002 the first prisoners from Afghanistan arrived at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo, Cuba, under the orders of President George W. Bush. Throughout the next several weeks the number of detainees at Guantanamo reached 600 (Dahlstrom, 2003, 674). According to the Bush Administration only the “worst of the worst” were to be housed in this new offshore prison. However, it was soon esta...

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...o the actions of both presidents and may never be able to recover. In reality, the anti-American sentiment that has been created because of Guantanamo has made the U.S. less secure that it was before it was created.

Works Cited

Dahlstrom, K. (2003). The Executive Policy Towards Detention and Trial of Foreign Citizens at Guantanamo Bay. Berkeley Journal Of International Law, 21(3), 662

Daskal, Jennifer. (2007). How to Close Guantanamo. World Policy Journal. 29-37.

McCrisken, Trevor. (2011) Ten Years on: Obama’s War on Terrorism in Rhetoric and Practice. International Affairs 87:4. 781-801.

Roth, K. (2010). Empty Promises? Obama’s Hesitant Embrace of Human Rights. (United States President Barack Obama). Foreign Affairs, (2).

Tung, Y. (2011). “Anything But Bush?”: The Obama Administration and Guantanamo Bay. Harvard Journal Of Law & Public Policy, 34(2), 453-492.