For all the talk about what a horrible place Guantánamo Bay is for the detainees, when they look at the future they have here in America, Club Gitmo isn’t really that bad:
The 221 remaining inmates receive between four and 20 hours outdoor recreation in the Caribbean sun and anything from weekly to almost unlimited access to DVDs and receive three newspapers (USA Today, plus one Egyptian and one Saudi Arabian title) twice a week. Every bed has an arrow pointing towards Mecca and every cell a prayer rug.
Adm Copeman said “generally speaking the rules are about the same” for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the September 11 attacks, and the 15 other “high value detainees”, who are held at Camp 7, which is out of bounds to the media.
The detainees’ diet is exclusively Middle Eastern and halal, in observance of regional and religious sensitivities. Dates, olive oil and honey are provided daily and pita bread is baked on the premises. They drink the same bottled water as the prison’s staff and have the same access as other prisoners to 16,000 books and 1,600 magazines held at the library.
An escorted tour of Guantánamo by the Daily Telegraph revealed that Camp 7′s requested reading included Gardens of the World by Mick Hales, Fine Art Flower Photography by Tony Sweet and a copy of Birds and Blooms magazine, material in keeping with nature-bound leisure pursuits approved by conservative Islam. Two volumes of the Tales of the Arabian Nights were also in the pile. Tomes on Islamic theory are in plentiful supply and demand, said library staff.
They know what they have in store for them if they get transferred to Colorado’s Supermax, the Alcatraz of the Rockies. It has been described as a cleaner version of Hell:
Most prisoners spend up to 23 hours a day in their cells, every minute, every meal. The window in their cell is blocked so they can’t see the mountains. Inmates can watch a 12″ black and white television or read books to pass the time. And if they behave, they may get limited exercise in a one-man recreation pen.
Rather than sitting outside with other inmates, Gitmo detainees held in the Supermax will face the “perfection of isolation.”
Is it any wonder they would prefer the island prison to ADX?
