Guantanamo Bay Naval Station Fast Facts
FD Editor’s Note: Here’s the quick and dirty – as well as a big white-washed fact sheet on Guantanamo. Remember that 11 years ago our young adults of today were mere children… We need to re-teach all the time, never assume the folks we talk to know about all this. We should always be ready and able to answer questions.Facts:
The base, sometime referred to as “Gitmo,” is located in southeastern Cuba, on the coast of Guantánamo Bay.
The U.S. has been leasing the 45 square miles that the base sits on since 1903. The base shares a 17-mile border with Cuba.
The U.S. pays the Cuban government approximately $4,085 a year for the lease. The last time time Cuba accepted the payment was in 1959.
The lease can only be terminated by mutual agreement.
Approximately 6,000 service members, civilians and contractors work at the base.
Detention Facilities:
In response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and subsequent military operations in Afghanistan, existing migrant detention facilities at Guantánamo were re-purposed to hold detainees in the “war on terror.”
During the administration of President George W. Bush (2001-2009), the U.S. claimed that Guantánamo Bay detainees were not on U.S. soil and therefore not covered by the U.S. constitution, and that “enemy combatant” status meant they could be denied some legal protections.
Shortly after his inauguration in 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the detention facilities within one year. However, the facilities are still open as of 2013.
There are 164 detainees at Guantánamo Bay as of August 2013. At its peak, the population of detainees exceeded 750 men.
At least seven detainees have died in custody.
It costs the U.S. Defense Department about $150 million a year to run the detention facilities.
Timeline:
1903 – The new Republic of Cuba leases 45 square miles of land in Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. for construction of a naval station. Building on the naval station begins that same year.
1934 – Cuba and the U.S. sign a perpetual lease that rents the 45 square miles of Cuba to the U.S. for $4,085.00 a year.
1991 – Approximately 34,000 Haitian refugees are detained on the base after they flee a coup in Haiti.
1994-1995 – More than 55,000 Cubans and Haitians captured at sea are kept at Guantánamo.
January 11, 2002 – The first detainees from Afghanistan and Pakistan arrive at the temporary facility of Camp X-Ray.
June 28, 2004 – A divided Supreme Court rules that the Guantánamo detainees have some rights but leaves open how these rights will be exercised.
January 18, 2005 – The Supreme Court refuses to consider whether the government’s plan for military trials unfairly denies the detainees basic legal rights.
July 13, 2005 – A report presented to the Senate Armed Services details the interrogation of the suspected “20th hijacker” in the 9/11 attacks, Mohamed al-Khatani. He was forced to wear a bra, dance with a man and do dog tricks while tied to a leash. But military investigators said but that was not considered prohibited, inhumane treatment.
April 19, 2006 – Following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Associated Press, the Pentagon releases the most detailed and extensive list of detainees ever provided. It provides the names and nationalities of 558 detainees who’ve gone through a hearing at Guantanamo Bay.
May 15, 2006 – The Defense Department releases another list of current and former detainees to the AP. It says this list of 759 names includes everyone who has ever been held at Gitmo, since 2001. The list did not include the names of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or Ramzi bin al Shibh.
June 10, 2006 – Three detainees, Ali Abdullah Ahmed, Mani al-Habardi al- Utaybi, and Yassar Talal al-Zahrani are found dead in their cells by guards after apparently committing suicide.
June 29, 2006 – The Supreme Court strongly limits the power of the U.S government to conduct military tribunals for suspected terrorists imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay. The 5-3 ruling effectively means officials will either have to come up with new procedures to prosecute at least 10 “enemy combatants” awaiting trial, or release them from military custody.
September 6, 2006 – President George W. Bush acknowledges that the CIA has held suspected terrorists in secret prisons overseas. He announces the transfer of 14 captured al Qaeda operatives, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, and Abu Zubaydah, to Gitmo.
January 9, 2007 – Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says that he expects Australian citizen David Hicks to be charged “within a matter of weeks”. Hicks has been detained without charges at Guantanamo Bay since January 12, 2002.
March 12, 2007 – Walid Muhammad Salih bin Attash, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, admits to helping orchestrate the bombings of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1998 and the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.
March 15, 2007 – During a military hearing, a transcript of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessing to being the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks is released.
May 30, 2007 – A Saudi detainee is found dead from an apparent suicide.
June 5, 2008 - Alleged 9/11 conspirators Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi are arraigned.
June 12, 2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 that detainees have a constitutional right to challenge their detentions.
July 21, 2008 – Salim Hamdan pleads not guilty at the opening of the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He’s charged with transporting Osama Bin Laden and some missiles in connection with terrorist activity.
August 6, 2008 – Salim Hamdan is found guilty of five counts of material support to a terror organization. He is later sentenced to five years and six months in prison.
December 7, 2008 – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi tell a judge that they want to make a full confession.
January 20, 2009 – On his inauguration day, President Barack Obama directs Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ask prosecutors to seek stays for 120 days so terrorism cases at Guantanamo can be reviewed.
January 22, 2009 – President Barack Obama signs an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay within a year.
November 13, 2009 – Attorney General Eric Holder announces that five detainees, accused of complicity in the September 11th attacks, will be transferred to New York City to stand trial in a civilian court. They are: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. Five other detainees will be transferred to the U.S. and have their cases heard before military commissions. They are: Omar Khadr, Mohammed Kamin, Ibrahim al Qosi, Noor Uthman Muhammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
November 18, 2009 – President Obama announces that the Guantanamo Bay detention center will not be closed by January 22, 2010, due to difficulties in relocating the prisoners.
December 15, 2009 – The Obama administration announces that between 70-100 detainees will be moved to an empty prison in Thomson, Illinois.
October 25, 2010 – Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr pleads guilty to all charges against him. Khadr is sentenced to 40 years in prison but will serve eight years as part of his plea agreement.
February 2011 – Detainee Awal Gul collapses and dies of an apparent heart attack after exercising.
March 7, 2011 – President Obama announces that the U.S. will resume the use of military commissions to prosecute detainees at Guantánamo Bay.
April 4, 2011 – Attorney General Eric Holder announces that five detainees will face a military trial at Guantánamo Bay.
April 24, 2011 – Nearly 800 classified U.S. military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal details about the alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives captured and housed at the U.S. Navy’s detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Included are intelligence assessments of nearly every one of the 779 individuals who have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, according to the Washington Post.
May 18, 2011 – A detainee identified as Inayatullah (aka Hajji Nassim) commits suicide in his cell.
September 8, 2012 – A detainee is found dead in his cell. U.S. Southern Command later identifies him as Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, 32, of Yemen.
March 25, 2013 – U.S. military spokesman Robert Durand announces that 28 of the 166 prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay are on hunger strikes. Ten of the detainees are being force-fed, according to Durand.
April 13, 2013 – Detainees wielding “improvised weapons” clash with guards. Guards respond by firing “four less-than-lethal rounds,” according to Joint Task Force Guantanamo.
April 22, 2013 – U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale say that 84 detainees are currently on hunger strikes, more than half of the 166 people being held.
May 16, 2013 – Army Lt. Col. Samuel House announces that 102 of the 166 detainees are on hunger strikes, with 30 being fed by tubes. Three have been hospitalized.
May 23, 2013 – In a speech at the National Defense University, President Obama calls on Congress to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay by saying, “Given my administration’s relentless pursuit of al Qaeda’s leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened.”
June 6, 2013 – U.S. spokesman Capt. Robert Durand says that 103 detainees remain on hunger strikes, with 41 being force fed.
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