Response to Morris D. Davis Concerning Guantanamo

Yesterday, I posted an article about how the meeting top officials were going to have about closing Guantanamo was canceled for relatively unknown reasons. (The proper steps weren't made yet? White House officials...) Then I related Guantanamo's legitmacy to be rather useless considering insider reports have said that only a "trickle" of information has led to any significant intelligence. They also reported that the higher level detainees are held at different places across the globe and not at Guantanamo.

Today, Morris D. Davis, a Colonel in the Air Force and the chief prosecutor in the Defense Department’s Office of Military Commissions, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times, likening it to an aura of a rehabilitation center or a mental hospital:

"Reality for Guantánamo Bay is the daily professionalism of its staff, the humanity of its detention centers and the fair and transparent nature of the military commissions charged with trying war criminals. It is a reality that has been all but ignored or forgotten."

Hm. Where's he going with this, what kind of professionalism and humane practices? Read on:

"Today, most of the detainees are housed in new buildings modeled after civilian prisons in Indiana and Michigan. Detainees receive three culturally appropriate meals a day. Each has a copy of the Koran. Guards maintain respectful silence during Islam’s five daily prayer periods, and medical care is provided by the same practitioners who treat American service members. Detainees are offered at least two hours of outdoor recreation each day, double that allowed inmates, including convicted terrorists, at the “supermax” federal penitentiary in Florence, Colo."

Wow, how sweet and kind of our government. Do they give them clean bed sheet and new socks too? How bout they tuck them in and read them a bedtime story from Koran scripture? We are the NICEST prison wardens ever! BULL! Then, ironically, Mr. Davis makes a reference to my comparison to GULAGS:

"Critics liken Guantánamo Bay to Soviet gulags, but reality does not match their hyperbole."

Okay, I apologize. We let them pray and lift weights or pound rocks out in the sun. We really are humanitarians. Detecting the sarcasm yet? So,once again, I lead you to this really nice document America has called THE CONSTITUTION! Does anyone read this thing anymore?

Keith Olbermann's response to the loss of the habeas corpus to these detainees in 2006 proves how many rights via the Bill of Rights the detainees lose by being subjected to Guantanamo's mercy:

"No. 1 is gone. I mean, if you’re detained without trial, you lose your freedom of religion and speech, press, assembly, all the rest of that. So, you don’t need that any more.

And you know, you can’t petition the government for anything.

2. While you are in prison, your right to keep and bear arms just might be infringed upon even if you’re in the NRA, so that’s gone.

3. Well, OK, no forced sleepovers at your house by soldiers.Three’s all right.

4. You’re definitely not secure against searches and seizures, as it says here, with or without probable cause. And, in prison that’s not limited to just the guards, so forget the fourth.

5. Grand juries and due process, obviously out, so forget five and the little trailer up here.

6. Well, trials are gone too, let alone the right to counsel. Speedy trials? You want it when?

7. Well, this is about—I thought we just covered trials and juries earlier so forget the seventh.

8. Well, bail’s kind of a moot point isn’t it?

9. Other rights retained by the people. Well, you know, if you can name them during your water boarding, we’ll consider them.

10. Powers not delegated to the United States federal government. Well, they seem to have ended up there anyway. So as you can see, even without habeas corpus, at least one tenth of the Bill of Rights, I guess that’s the Bill of Right, now—remains virtually intact. No. 3 is still safe. "

So, Mr. Morris, while I'd like to sympathize with your possibly biased military backing view that they are treated humane, I'd like to end with a solid quote from Rep. Jim Moran's letter to the President: (Its debatable effectiveness is neither here nor there.)

"Holding prisoners for an indefinite period of time, without charging them with a crime goes against our values, ideals and principles as a nation governed by the rule of law. Further, Guantanamo Bay has a become a liability in the broader global war on terror, as allegations of torture, the indefinite detention of innocent men, and international objections to the treatment of enemy combatants has hurt our credibility as the beacon for freedom and justice.

We feel that it is also necessary to restore the right of habeas corpus to the detainees. This will allow for the implementation of fair and transparent trials to bring enemies of our country to justice. The closure of the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, however, represents a positive first step toward restoring our international reputation as the leader of democracy and individual rights."

So, in short, nice try...but I'm not buying into the picture of a Cuban oasis for prisoners. With explicit Constitutional freedoms cut short, questionable integrity concerning interrogation methods, and also questionable legitimacy of effectiveness concerning intelligence, I will be one of those "critics who liken Guantanamo to Soviet GULAGs." Sorry sir.