Jacksonville.com.
Saturday, January 5, 2002.
Fidel Castro would like for the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay to be
returned to Cuba, so it's natural that his regime would resent the plan to
transfer captured Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists there. But it was in poor
taste when his attorney general expressed hope that some of the detainees would
break loose and kill their American guards.
No reasonable person wants human beings to die -- presumably not even
Castro, who condemned the Sept. 11 attacks.
The detainees are among the most incorrigible jihad cut-throats in
Afghanistan. If they were jailed in the United States and escaped, they almost
certainly would go on a killing spree.
Guantanamo Bay is only a two-hour flight from Jacksonville. That is close
enough to conveniently, quickly and inexpensively ferry lawyers and federal
interrogation teams back and forth. That will be particularly important if the
United States, as expected, conducts military tribunals at "Gitmo," as
U.S. military personnel call the base.
The safety of Cubans doesn't seem to be an issue.
Castro has a minefield, cactus obstructions and an army battalion outside
Guantanamo Bay to stop Cubans from escaping into the base. That which keeps
people out, can keep people in, also.
U.S. security is tight, and it will be even better before the 45 detainees
arrive.
It isn't likely that terrorists are going to escape. But even if they
somehow do, Islamic radicals are trained to hate Americans and Jews -- not
Cubans.
Castro isn't going to get the base back. It was ceded to the United States
in a treaty 99 years ago. The treaty can be cancelled only by mutual agreement
or voluntary U.S. withdrawal.
Castro's regime should separate its moral obligation to oppose terrorism
from its quixotic dreams of recovering something that no longer legally belongs
to Cuba.
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