From the Daily Standard 2/1/02 "Guantanamo’s Unhappy Campers" by
Matt Labash
This article explains the strange habits of some of the detainees in Cuba.
It documents the good treatment they have received. For example, they have
so much food that snipers who always have them in their scopes see them
making models of the terrain with their food. They have sick call every
day. They are led in prayer five times a day. They have double the living
space of the soldiers guarding them. On and on.
One group, in particular, doesn’t think the U.S. is doing enough for these
AlQaida and Taliban prisoners – the Human Rights Watch.
from the article:
"After leaving the snipers, I collar other grunts who say they believe
the prisoners are more apt to act out whenever they see one of the regular
visitors from the International Committee of the Red Cross enter the camp. "They’re
looking to be disciplined," says one, so that any aggressive guard
behavior will make it look as if they’re being brutalized by the American
military in front of international witnesses. ICRC visits, says another
soldier, are the highlight of a prisoner’s day, since they’ve been spotted "giving
the unshackled prisoners cookies and milk, cigarettes, shaking their hands." Many
organizations who haven’t been to Gitmo, like Human Rights Watch, have
been extremely critical of the prisoners’ treatment, while the ICRC has
aired no complaints. Still, says another soldier, "They’re a pain
in the a**. We see them offering them cookies, hugging them like they’re
best buddies. They’re undermining everything we’re trying to do."
Two weeks ago (article below), Human Rights Watch got to criticize our
country on Channel One. Why did this group get this incredible access to
our children? A group that has not been to the prison. Because schools
with Channel One have given up control over one hour a week to Channel
One’s Hollywood studio. If they want our children to hear the concerns
of any fringe group, they can.
Human Rights Watch may do more good than bad. That isn’t the point. The
point is Channel One makes the decisions about what our children will be
exposed to.
I imagine ten of thousands of children having heard the nice spokeperson
for Human Rights Watch criticize our poor treatment of the Al Qaida prisoners,
now think ill of our nation. The really bad thing is that their parents
may never know why, since parents often don’t even know what Channel One
is.
