More News From Club Guantanamo

After months of absolutely no coverage on things Gitmo, the press is suddenly providing a surge of articles on the US prison camp. For example, on February 6, an AP article refers to the finally-acknowledged a "secret" cell block, one referred to as "Camp 7."

Somewhere amid the cactus-studded hills on this sprawling Navy base, separate from the cells where hundreds of men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban have been locked up for years, is a place even more closely guarded - a jailhouse so protected that its very location is top secret. ...

Guantanamo commanders said Camp 7 is for key alleged al-Qaida members, who must be kept apart from other prisoners to prevent them from retaliating against long-term detainees who have talked to interrogators. They also want the location kept secret for fear of terrorist attack. ...

Terrorist attack on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? Yes, that's the fear.

"Not everybody, even within the Joint Task Force, has access or even knowledge of where Camp 7 is," said Army Col. Bruce Vargo. As commander of the military's Joint Detention Group at Guantanamo, Vargo is responsible for the camps holding 260 detainees. But not for Camp 7.

"Although we are trying to be open, security is paramount," he said. "I mean, if you can fly a plane into the towers, you can attack Guantanamo if that's what you choose to do. It's something I think about on a day-to-day basis."

What an odd thing for the commander to say. You'd think that on a "day-to-day basis" he'd have a lot more to think about.

Even odder, however, is that Col. Vargo does not have any say in the running of Camp 7. Who does? The CIA? That's an unknown, or, more properly when talking about the current administration, that's a state secret.

Col. Vargo has been busy with Camps 1 through 6, however. Another AP article (published February 8) reports that the camp commandant has come up with a swell educational/recreational program for the detainees he is responsible for:

Seeking to ease conditions for angry and frustrated Guantanamo detainees, the commander of the prison camps has instituted language classes, a literacy program and wants to open communal areas for men held in isolation 22 hours a day.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Army Col. Bruce Vargo, commander of the military's Joint Detention Group at Guantanamo, said he hopes the changes at Guantanamo, where 275 men suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban are held, will lead to fewer attacks on guards. ...

"If we can get them to focus on humanities programs, if we can get them to focus on recreation, then their sole focus is not going to be on the guard force," Vargo said. "It is my thought that if they are focused on those things, then the level of assaults and things of that nature will go down."

"Right now the men in Camp 6 sit in steel boxes without windows for at least 22 hours a day," he said. "They have no mental stimulation, nothing to do. [Emphasis added]

Well, under those conditions, one can understand why the detainees might be a little on the cranky side. Teaching them to read and write grammatically should ease a little of that, eh? I mean, it's not like they have anything else to complain about, is it?

Their lawyers and human rights organizations would beg to differ, of course.

"But the real issue remains the fact that the men are being held without charge or trial," Katznelson added. "English lessons do not equal a return to American values like due process. It's just putting lipstick on a pig."

Indeed.

[To be continued]