HELD
AT BAY
that might hold a high-school basketball court, and is surrounded
by layers of barbed-wire fences.
Inside, however, it is state of the
art, featuring a soundproof spectator gallery, digital document
displays for lawyers and audio
speakers under the table that
broadcast Arabic translations of
the proceedings for defendants
who refuse to wear headphones.
Whereas the old courthouse held
a single, cramped courtroom, the
new facility has space to try up to
five defendants at once.
Visiting defense attorneys now
stay in new townhouse condos,
but journalists and observers remain relegated to Camp Justice’s
tent city. In the airplane hangar,
there is an “internet cafe” where
human rights observers have
set up an office. “We now have
a printer this time, which we’ve
been asking for for a while,” said
Laura Pitter, a counterterrorism adviser with Human Rights
Watch. “We have a working phone
in there now. We didn’t have a
working phone last time.”
In addition to his official portrait, visible in a few locations
around the base, there are other
subtle reminders that Obama is
now in charge. The tents at Camp
HUFFINGTON
03.03.13
Justice are outfitted with energyefficient light bulbs. The cover
of The Wire — the newsletter of
Joint Task Force Guantanamo,
the entity which runs GTMO’s
prisons — features a photo of
Obama’s ceremonial swearing
in at his second inauguration. A
military spokesman who travels
with reporters to Guantanamo is
married to another man.
There have been victories for
members of the media. New divider walls give journalists a bit more
privacy in their heavily air-conditioned six-person tents. Reporters
are now allowed to roam around
“WE’RE STILL TALKING ABOUT
NOT CLOSING THE FACILITY.”
parts of the base without an escort
and no longer have a curfew —
privileges that journalists embedded with the military in Iraq and
Afghanistan have enjoyed for years
but were absent at Guantanamo
until last month. In January, visiting journalists were given a tour
of one of the holding cells located
next to the courtroom facility for
the first time in years.
“Have a good time,” a young
guard told the reporters about to
tour the cell, after scanning them
for metal or electronic devices.