Crossposted at
The Next Agenda
Recently a team from the CBC was allowed inside the the infamous Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in Cuba.
Journalist Rosa Hwang wrote about it July 4th.
She notes the dichotomy between the beauty of the surroundings, a boon to any vacation spot coupled with oppressive heat and bugs.
The reporters were constantly shadowed members of the military. Uncomfortable questions were brushed off with "security concerns".
More on the flip
The facility is filled with men rounded up in the days after the invasion of Afghanistan. Bush has said these men need to be held until the "war on terror" is won. He has also said that he doubts the "war" can be won any time soon, so it is logical to assume that the US intends to hold these men indefinitely. If they can.
After housing the men in pens that Hwang likens to open air dog kennels -- and don't forget the oppressive sun and heat -- at Camp Xray, the Americans now house them in a place called Camp Delta.
They use what they call positive reinforcement to control the men. The more they cooperate, the more they privileges and things they get.
The detainees are identified through their clothing, with their level of co-operation. Names are not exchanged between detainees and their detainers.
They are not in prison, because that would make them prisoners and entitled protections which the Americans don't want to extend.
To me it all sounds rather horrific. I can't imagine being held without charge, without being able to see my family without a route for redress, for years on end. Fuck the suntan.
I have to admit I found Hwang's response to this curious:
Because the U.S. administration doesn't classify their captives as "prisoners" - even though that's essentially what they are - they can be kept there, without charge or trial, for as long as the government deems it necessary. Camp Delta prisoners are not afforded the same due process Americans proudly proclaim every accused person under U.S. law is entitled to.
The adage "innocent until proven guilty" doesn't apply to the detainees - which is why Amnesty International has condemned Guantanamo as part of what it calls "the gulag of our times" and others have labelled it as "a legal black hole."
What we saw at Camp Delta seemed hardly a gulag. The prisoners appeared to be well fed and kept in quarters typical of any medium- to maximum-security U.S. prison. The cells are sparse, yet neat. The guard forces are serious, yet professional.
The detainees seemed to spend most of their time battling the oppressive heat, dust and bugs, as opposed to battling allegedly abusive guards. The so-called "evildoers" appeared more weary than ominous. For the most part, they regarded us with mild curiosity.
But, of course, we were only allowed to see what the military wanted us to see.
Emphasis mine.
As the old saying goes, walls do not a prison make. I wonder what Hwang thinks would make a gulag.