Imagine after 9/11 Bin Laden gets taken alive and sent to Guantanamo Bay, many years later the Us abandons Guantanamo and Cuba assumes control of it, including the prisoners. Now whatever Cuba does with the prisoners the Us cannot object to, Cuba has a nuke for deterrence, what would Cuba do with Bin Laden?

Now imagine the Us had a whole bunch of political prisoners in Guantanamo before abandoning it, just imagine what Cuba would do to any hypothetical person that the Us might have deemed bad enough to send there, but also what Cuba would do to this prisoner. Ask yourself, would Cuba pardon them, keep them imprisoned, kill them, deport them?

The meat of the question is, is the enemy of my enemy really my friend?. Do you think a person would have the critical support or unconditional support of Cuba despite being in Guantanamo Bay? Would someone being dangerous make them less valuable as an asset for Cuba?

I want to hear what all of you think what Cuba would have done if they got their hands on Bin Laden and their decision is independent of what the Us wants.

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[–] flan@hexbear.net 22 points 6 months ago (1 children)

jesse-wtf

[–] EmmaGoldman@hexbear.net 14 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Easy answer: it's going to depend on the individual. There are currently 30 people being held in the Guantanamo Bay black site, all but one of whom are currently either indefinitely awaiting sentencing or are in indefinite detention but have not yet even been charged with a crime. They were all detained between 2002 and 2008.

[–] Dolores@hexbear.net 5 points 6 months ago

i'm not familiar with Cuban law but i have a hard time believing they could accommodate tortured & irregularly detained individuals without that ruining the case, which is also the case with US law they just endlessly loophole/delay it to save face

[–] Thordros@hexbear.net 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

You're 100% correct. We assess the crimes they've been accused of (if any) and pass judgment based on the facts. Most of them will go free. After being in a secret prison for two decades, they are going to need comprehensive financial, social, and medical support—as decent people we'd be obligated to provide it. It's less of an ethical dilemma, and more a test of basic ethics.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 11 points 6 months ago

waterboarding in guantanamo bay sounds like a whole lot of fun if you dont know what either of these things are

[–] EmoThugInMyPhase@hexbear.net 10 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Cuba has always been against terrorism against normal Americans. They had spies infiltrate anti-communist terrorist organizations in the US, and they succeeded for a good while, and this was after the USSR collapsed. Even when they had the support of a nuclear power they didn't want to harm regular people, so bin Laden wouldn't be of much use as an asset, maybe with the exception of getting technical advice for weapons and bombs, etc.

Osama likely wouldn't have much of a beef with Cubans and vice versa. Castro was pro-israel, but being saying your support Israel is not the same as giving weapons to kill Palestinians and start wars with neighboring Arab countries. So because of those two things, plus Cuba never having any bloody, ancient historical interactions with the Arab world, should they release Osama and co., they can probably trust that Cubans will be safe from Islamic terrorism since there is no tactical or symbolic purpose. But, the optics of releasing the most wanted man is not great, so they will likely transfer Osama to a different country to be imprisoned. Cuba will likely be the target of terrorism up until Osama is transferred, then resources will be spent on attacking whichever country Osama is transferred to.

Would someone being dangerous make them less valuable as an asset for Cuba?

Back in the day Americans would commit crimes then hijack planes to Cuba, or just hijack planes in order to get a safe passage to Cuba. I don't remember whether it's true, but I remember reading that Castro was really annoyed with these people and would send them back. The American authorities would then offer (perhaps facetiously?) to buy people tickets to Cuba so they don't have to hijack planes, and Castro objected to this because he didn't want a bunch of Yankee criminals inside the country.

[–] robinn_IV@hexbear.net 5 points 6 months ago

I hate you

[–] Dolores@hexbear.net 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

they'd release them, E Z PZ. it'd be completely unteneable for Cuba to continue with the detention or persecution. any country wants to start their own case could probably grab them pretty easily afterwards

[–] popcornlung@hexbear.net 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Is it in Cuba’s best interest to release Bin Laden when he is an anti communist? Any country that wants him is either a us ally and can’t have them, or would not prosecute Bin Laden and he would surely do another terrorism. The only question is, do you think he’s not going to harm Cuba or it’s allies?

[–] Dolores@hexbear.net 6 points 6 months ago

The only question is, do you think he’s not going to harm Cuba or it’s allies?

No. that's why this is pretty easy for Cuba, the people released have very little interest in the Caribbean, and have no capability to hurt Cuba even if they decided to after Cuba ended their incarceration. Cuba defends itself directly from the United States, al-Qaeda is little leagues shit

[–] Formerlyfarman@hexbear.net 3 points 6 months ago

If i had nuclear weapons and means of delivery. I would release him. If i had infinite money on top of that ill give him a billion dollars. Ill point it out to him that i have no ambitions in the muslim world or any means to opose his agenda. The biggest concern is the us. Once they are gone i can worry about other things. The us finances terrorism why shouldnt i?

[–] Tabitha@hexbear.net 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Maybe I'm not understanding what the ethical dilemma is, just brain wash them to think imperialism is bad and train them to be anti US terrorists?

[–] popcornlung@hexbear.net 3 points 6 months ago

They already think the us is bad, they’re in Guantanamo, do you trust them to just attack the us?