Gitmo Aftermath

The aftermath of Gitmo will be felt for years to come as the fate of political prisoners are held in the hands of different governments around the world.

The first, poor soul to be released, an Ethiopian refugee named Binyam Mohamed has returned to the UK after allegedly being tortured for ONLY seven years at Gitmo. Mohamed alleges he was tortured at a CIA covert site in Morocco where he was arrested for plotting to commit terrorist acts on US soil in 2002. He also alleges he was tortured in Afghanistan and later at Gitmo. Wow it sounds like this guy really gets around!

So who should be held accountable for Mohamed's alleged torture? Members of Britain's M15, the CIA, the Obama Administration or the big elephant in the room, former President George W. BushPresident George W. Bush, after all he is the one who sparked a trend of torture allegations post September 11th? How could we forget Abu Ghraib?

When President Obama decided to close Gitmo in early 2009, perhaps he was not contemplating the fallout from allegations such as Mohameds. More cases of alleged torture are going to materialize as countries use their persuasion skills to convince the US to release political prisoners and send them back to their country of origin. The UK has been adamant about not letting Mohamed permanently stay with his siblings in the English countryside, so where does that leave him? Could he be sent back to Ethiopia to live with his parents only never to be heard of again, sans a severance package for enduring years of torture? Will he remain in the quite English countryside or will he perhaps finally join a terrorist organization?

One thing is certain, more Mohamed's are going to come back from the dead only to cause anxiety and scandal for the Obama Administration as well as other involved countries like Ethiopia and Morocco. Closing Gitmo has opened a large can of worms for the international community that has yet to be seen.