Guantanamo. A maximum security U.S. prison in Cuba. A place and a name that still is remembered by the world population as an example of everything that is wrong with America. Namely, the torture of its inmates.

As one of Barack Obama’s campaign promises, he is determined to shut down the infamous Guantanamo Bay. It is a symbol of America’s government “strong arm” and evokes negative feelings from the rest of the population. However, out of all the promises he made I believe that this is the least impactful of all his goals.

Now in order to be fair and non-biased, the supporter’s argument of the closing of Guantanamo shall be examined as well. The argument has been made, that the reason Guantanamo should be closed is that it is holding prisoners of war, without the right to a trial. That is against the U.S. Constitution. It is also against the Geneva Convention. I do not dispute any of that. I absolutely believe they are being held without the right to a trial, the difference is the people there are not prisoners of war. They are terrorists operating out of their own ideology and not under the conscription of a country or a government.

They do not fight for patriotism; they do not fight under a flag or some representational patriotic symbol of that type. They decide that it is their mission in life to kill as many innocent people as possible.

Now, the Obama plan is to close down Guantanamo, move the inmates to a prison on U.S. soil deem them prisoners of war and give them right to a fair trial.

The deciding factor for me in all of this is that more than likely the government investigation and possible torture of these prisoners is not going to stop just because Guantanamo closes down. It is simply going to stop the torture of inmates at a prison in Cuba. As a matter of fact, an empty prison in Illinois, which is where the Obama Administration is looking at holding the inmates, would probably be an easier location to torture people. A prison in Cuba does attract a lot of attention and political interest.

I ask you the reader, what do you think? Do you believe that the inmates deserve a trial? Do you believe Guantanamo should be shut down? The question is a difficult one and is being decided as you read this.