I have a new ethical problem for you all to solve, I call it the Bin Laden dilemma. (hexbear.net)

submitted 6 months ago by popcornlung@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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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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[-] 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.