Please don’t make me leave … Gitmo?
PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images The U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has become a huge thorn in the White House’s side, both at home and abroad. But it looks like Vice President Dick Cheney might have found an unexpected ally in his quest to keep its doors open: Algerian detainee Ahmed Belbacha has been ...
PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has become a huge thorn in the White House’s side, both at home and abroad.
But it looks like Vice President Dick Cheney might have found an unexpected ally in his quest to keep its doors open: Algerian detainee Ahmed Belbacha has been fighting to be allowed to stay at Gitmo. And while a U.S. federal judge rejected his motion to stop his transfer last week, his lawyers are not ready to give up.
So what could possibly be so great in there? Is it the 22 hours each day in an all-steel isolation cell with no windows and no contact with other inmates? Michael Moore might insist that it’s the great healthcare.
But actually, it’s what Belbacha fears is waiting for him upon his return home. Zachary Katznelson, his lawyer, says:
Even though the Americans say he poses no threat, Ahmed fears that he has the stamp of Guantanamo Bay on him and he will be treated by the authorities as a terrorist if he is returned to Algeria. It is a bizarre situation because the reason he left in the first place was because the Islamist terrorists were threatening to kill him.
A U.S. military spokesman reassures us that the United States requires countries receiving detainees from Guantánamo to pledge that they will treat them humanely. Groups like Human Rights Watch have plenty to say about how far these empty “diplomatic assurances” will get you. For men like Ahmed Belbacha, suddenly Gitmo doesn’t look all that bad.
More from Foreign Policy


At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment
Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.


How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China
As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.


What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal
Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.


Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust
Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.