Should The U.S. Military Be Burning Art From Guantanamo Detainees?

Muhammad Ansi, Hand Holding Red Flowers, 2015 (color photocopy of original and reverse, showing stamps indicating approval for release from Guantánamo).

Kara Weisenstein, VICE: The Military Is Burning Art from Guantanamo That the World Should See

An exhibition of detainee art has the Pentagon riled, but destroying it is a cruel form of censorship.

For all its notoriety, most Americans know very little about Guantanamo Bay. A decade and a half after 9/11, it remains shrouded in secrecy—a remote prison in Cuba where America sent alleged terrorists to rot indefinitely without due process.

Since 2002, 779 detainees have been held there—nine died in custody, 15 were minors, and only nine have actually been charged with a crime. Barack Obama promised to close Guantanamo when he was running for president in 2008. Since then, 730 prisoners have been transferred or resettled in other countries. But 41 remain, and if you believe Donald Trump’s threats to fill Guantanamo back up with "bad dudes," there may be more in the near future.

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WNU Editor: This is a tough one for me. I say this because my own father went to an auction 25 years ago to bid on a painting by Hitler. He fought in the Soviet army during the war .... and of course he knew what the Nazis under Hitler did. But buy a paint done by him?!?!?! As I said .... this is a tough one for me. Would a painting done by 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed be of value to someone who lost a loved one in 9/11 .... if it was up to me I say burn it. But many are (appearing) to say no.