From The Washington Post.
Why are we closing a gold-plated Gitmo?
Yesterday’s Post story on the cost of Guantanamodetailed how many U.S. tax dollars had been invested in the naval base. When I traveled to Guantanamo last September, I also saw a lot of money being spent -- mostly to improve conditions for detainees who were supposedly leaving in a few months.
Visiting Camp 4, I saw bulldozers lined up for a construction project. The officer in charge explained they were preparing to bulldoze away the gravel in the exercise yard and replace it with sand. Why were they going to such expense, I asked, since the facility is supposedly going to be closed in January? He said the terrorists -- 95 percent of detainees are terrorist leaders, operatives or fighters -- had complained that it was too hard to play soccer on the gravel, and they wanted sand instead.
The food the terrorists receive at Guantanamo is better than what American forces eat in the camp dining facility -- and twice as expensive. The chef in charge of detainee food showed me how she prepared exotic Middle Eastern meals according to the Islamic standards of halal. In addition, terrorists receive special communal “feast” meals twice a week. According to one officer I spoke with, the military at one point spent $125,000 on baklava for the terrorists to enjoy each night during Ramadan.[read more]There is no mystery here. This is a subtle form of torture by the military led by George Bush and Dick Cheney... well, even if George and Dick aren't in charge anymore, the military is responsible for continuing the torture.
Torture? How can this be torture? Simple. This is just the first phase. The second phase is when this all gets taken away and the detainees get sent to mainland U.S. prisons where they will share cells with members of the Aryan Nation and eat regular prison chow.
On the plus side, they will gain experience about how it is to be a woman in a 7th century society.