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LESSON
PLAN: THE RIGHTS OF DETAINEES AT GUANTANAMO BAY
Critical Analysis
By Lara Maupin, formerly a social studies teacher
and student government adviser at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and
Technology in Alexandria, Virginia Subjects:
Government/civics, international law, current events Time:
This lesson is intended to take 2 class periods Objectives:
- Students
will identify the legal issues involved in the case of the detainees being held
at Guantanamo Bay and surrounding the existence of the base itself.
- Students
will understand the clash between civil liberties and national security during
wartime.
Overview:
In this lesson, your students will examine the history, controversies
and current issues surrounding the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Students
will consider the legal status and rights of those being detained there. This
lesson is especially relevant in a government or civics class but may be used
in any social studies class in which current events are discussed. Materials: Correlations
to National Standards Procedure: 1.
Introduction/Background
Give
your students the following background on Guantanamo Bay. Guantanamo
Bay is a 45-square-mile American naval base located at the southeastern tip of
Cuba, a nearby communist country in the Caribbean. The U.S. has leased the land
for the past century although Cuban leader Fidel Castro does not recognize U.S.
claims to the land. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan,
the U.S. moved about 600 captured prisoners to Guantanamo Bay. Most have remained
there for the past two years without being charged with crimes or being given
hearings, prompting international and domestic criticism of the Bush administration.
The administration contends that they are dangerous enemy combatants being detained
and interrogated legally and humanely during the ongoing war on terrorism. The
Supreme Court will soon decide whether the detainees should have access to the
U.S. federal courts. The status of the detainees is an important current issue
and one that gives us the opportunity to examine the clash between the need for
safety and security and civil liberties during wartime. 2.
Article Analysis
Ask your students to read the following Online Extra article
on Guantanamo Bay and the prisoners being held there: Supreme Court Hears Guantanamo
Case (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june04/guantanamo_4-21.html) Have
your students share their initial reactions. What surprised them? What do they
think? Tell
your students they will now learn more about Guantanamo Bay and those being held
there. Ask them to use the article and the following sources available online
to complete the HANDOUT. Students may work
individually or in small groups. A TEACHER KEY
is provided.
Official
site of Guantanamo Bay
http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/ Articles
on Guantanamo Bay
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/khadr/readings/gitmolinks.html NewsHour
Stories: War
and Liberties
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june04/gb_4-20.html Inside
Guantanamo
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec03/gbay_10-14.html Military
Tribunals
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june03/tribunals_05-26.html Update:
The Detainees
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/jan-june03/detainees_1-22.html
3.
Group Activity
Once students have completed their handouts, break them
into the following six groups.
- Detainees
being held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay
- The
Bush administration
- Civil
liberties and human rights organizations
- The
Cuban government/Fidel Castro
- Foreign
governments with citizens who are being held at Guantanamo Bay
- Victims/families
impacted by the war on terrorism (9/11 families, military families, etc.)
Tell
each group to prepare to debate the following core legal issues surrounding the
detention of captured prisoners at Guantanamo Bay from their group's perspective,
much as the issue is being argued before the Supreme Court. -
Classification of the detainees as enemy combatants, rather than as POWs
- Trials
of the detainees in military commissions, rather than in the established civilian
or military courts
- Legal
rights of the detainees as non-citizens considered dangerous enemy combatants
(habeas corpus, etc.)
- Status
of Guantanamo Bay (sovereignty?)
Students
may need to conduct additional research using the online sources given above.
In their groups, they should prepare a 3 - 5 minute statement on any and all of
the issues above, as appropriate given their assigned group. They should select
one group member to read their statement to the class. After all group representatives
have made their statements, you may hold a class debate as time permits. 4.
Homework
Ask your students to consider their classroom debate and to write
about their own opinions regarding Guantanamo Bay and the status of the detainees.
5. Conclusions
As your students turn in their handouts, written
group statements, and homework opinion papers, you may wish to ask them to share
their opinions regarding Guantanamo Bay. What do they think should be done about
the base and the prisoners? Did their opinions change as they learned more? Extension
Ideas
- Have
your students learn more about the history of U.S.-Cuban relations. Where do we
go from here? Should relations be normalized? Why or why not?
- Ask
students to look at the history of how non-citizens have been treated in U.S.
courts. The Asian immigration cases provide a good example. What can they conclude?
How have the rights of immigrants and other non-citizens evolved? What rights
should non-citizens have in the U.S.?
National Standards:
McRel
Compendium of K-12 Standards Addressed:
Civics
Standard 3: Understands the sources, purposes, and functions of law, and the
importance of the rule of law for the protection of individual rights and the
common good
Benchmark 1: Knows alternative ideas about the sources of law (e.g.,
custom, Supreme Being, sovereigns, legislatures) and different varieties of law
(e.g., divine law, natural law, common law, statute law, international law)
Benchmark
2: Knows alternative ideas about the purposes and functions of law (e.g., regulating
relationships among people and between people and their government; providing
order, predictability, security, and established procedures for the management
of conflict; regulating social and economic relationships in civil society) Civics
Standard 4: Understands the concept of a constitution, the various purposes
that constitutions serve, and the conditions that contribute to the establishment
and maintenance of constitutional government
Benchmark 3: Understands how constitutions
may limit government's power in order to protect individual rights and promote
the common good Civics
Standard 15: Understands how the United States Constitution grants and distributes
power and responsibilities to national and state government and how it seeks to
prevent the abuse of power
Benchmark 7: Understands how specific features and
the overall design of the Constitution results in tensions among the three branches
(e.g., the power of the purse, the power of impeachment, advice and consent, veto
power, judicial review), and comprehends the argument that the tensions resulting
from separation of powers, checks and balances, and judicial review tend to slow
down the process of making and enforcing laws, thus insuring better outcomes Standard
18: Understands the role and importance of law in the American constitutional
system and issues regarding the judicial protection of individual rights
Benchmark
5: Understands how the individual's rights to life, liberty, and property are
protected by the trial and appellate levels of the judicial process and by the
principal varieties of law (e.g., constitutional, criminal, and civil law)
Benchmark
8: Knows historical and contemporary instances in which judicial protections have
not been extended to all persons and instances in which judicial protections have
been extended to those deprived of them in the past
Benchmark 9: Understands
why due process rights in administrative and legislative procedures are essential
for protecting individual rights and maintaining limited government Civics
Standard 22: Understands how the world is organized politically into nation-states,
how nation-states interact with one another, and issues surrounding U.S. foreign
policy
Benchmark 8: Understands the influence of American constitutional values
and principles on American foreign policy (e.g., a commitment to the self-determination
of nations), and understands the tensions that might arise among American values,
principles, and interests as the nation deals with the practical requirements
of international politics (e.g., a commitment to human rights and the requirements
of national security) National
Council for the Social Studies Thematic Strands:
Individuals,
Groups, and Institutions
Power,
Authority, and Governance
Global
Connections
Civic Ideals
and Practices
Author Lara Maupin has a Master’s Degree in Secondary Social Studies Education
from George Washington University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology and
Philosophy from Mount Holyoke College.
To
find out more about opportunities to contribute to this site, contact Leah Clapman at extra@newshour.org. | 
