THE HUNGER GAMES
AT GUANTANAMO
third countries. The administration will soon reopen transfers to
Yemen, which it had previously
blocked due to concerns about the
security situation in the country.
But Guantanamo, Obama acknowledged earlier this year, is a
“lingering problem that is not going to get better, it’s going to get
worse.” Ahead of Obama’s national
security speech, a senior administration official acknowledged that
closing Guantanamo was the “most
difficult piece of the puzzle.”
Such unease about its continued
existence is at odds with the development of Guantanamo from a
temporary detention facility into a
more robust prison camp. The military has spent millions of dollars in
recent years on a state-of-the-art
courthouse, housing for lawyers,
guards and other personnel, and
improved facilities for the detainees. A new chapel is under construction, and the sports center is
being refurbished. The Pentagon is
requesting nearly $200 million for
upgrades at Guantanamo, including
replacing the secretive Camp Seven
that houses high-value detainees.
As the military tells it, prisoners in Guantanamo’s Camp Six had
it about as good as prisoners being
held indefinitely without charges
HUFFINGTON
06.09.13
ONE DETAINEE
AT GUANTANAMO
HAS BEEN FORCEFED DAILY SINCE
2005.
possibly could. Their communal
pods had big-screen televisions, microwaves, refrigerators and 22-hour
access to a large outdoor recreation
yard. That soccer field, about half
the size of a U.S. football field, was
accessible to detainees via a secured walkway that minimized contact, and conflict, with guards.
Detainees could move freely
within their communal blocks for
most of the day and could eat, pray,
and even play video games together.
FIFA soccer on PlayStation 3 was
a hit, while Angry Birds “was kind
of popular at the beginning, but it
just stopped,” a library tech named
Milton, who agreed to be identified only by his first name, told reporters. DVDs of Everybody Loves
Raymond were also a hit, and Milton was making his way through
Friends to decide whether it was