Obama wants Guantanamo detainees to suffer

By Warner Todd Huston

Now, I thought that the Obama Administration was all about the "humane" treatment of the terrorists being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility? Right? I mean, wasn't Obama all we-weed up that the treatment that prisoners get in the Guantanamo facility is equal to "torture"?

Of course, Obama signed an executive order that is supposed to close Guantanamo by January 22, 2010 — not that this will happen on time as promised, it being just another in a long line of lies and broken promises issued by candidate Obama. But one of the chief reasons that everyone on the extreme left wants Guantanamo to be closed is because these bleeding heart, self-hating nuts are so sure that the facility constitutes some sort of living hell on earth for those detained there.

This being the case, one has to wonder why it is that Obama wants to take these prisoners from the "hell" of Guantanamo and put them in a facility in Illinois that will be far, far worse? That's right, the living condition in Guantanamo is like paradise compared to what they will be forced to endure in Illinois.

It is interesting that the left led by their Obammessiah are setting themselves up as the more moral actors in this little drama yet they are going to force the largest number of the left over detainees to endure far worse living conditions once the facility is shut down.

Recently reporter Thomas Joscelyn was part of a press visit to Guantanamo sponsored by the U.S. Government and he reported that in an effort to assuage the fears of the American people over the fact that terrorists will be set down in their midst the Illinois prison is set to be upgraded to a "supermax" styled prison before the Guantanamo detainees are to be transferred there.

However, Joscelyn also notedthat as things stand today most of the detainees have quite comfortable living conditions in the Cuba-based facility.

Ironically, however, most of the roughly 210 detainees still held at Guantánamo are not in supermax-type facilities at all. At least 70 percent live in communal settings like Camp 4. They can play soccer, basketball, or foosball; exercise on elliptical equipment; and consort with their fellow detainees for up to 20 hours per day in the outdoor recreation area. They can take art classes or learn English. And while tensions flare every now and again, life in Camp 4 is generally calm. Camp officials prefer that the detainees live in this type of setting. It's easier on the guards and everyone else involved. As the commander of Camp 4 explains, the detainees have to "do something really bad" to get locked up in one of the more secure facilities.

The detainees have access to several satellite television channels and, as one DoD handout notes, a library consisting of "more than 14,000 books, magazines, and DVDs in 18 languages." During a visit to the library, I noticed a few copies of the poetry of Rumi — a 13th-century Sufi mystic whose writings explore deeply spiritual, ethereal topics. Rumi's view of the world is diametrically opposed to that of al Qaeda's jihadists. He searched for the universal deity who he believed resided in us all, regardless of race or creed. Jihadists, on the other hand, believe they are compelled to war against anyone who dares to oppose their intolerant beliefs.

And therein lies my question. Obama means to take these guys that are luxuriating in near resort settings only to plunk them down into isolation chambers? Obama mans to force these guys into 6 X 6 concrete pens where the sun never shines? These guys are going from soccer fields, exercise rooms, and open camps to hard luck prison life?

And Obama is justifying his moving of these detainees as humanitarian reasons?

I don't know about you but if I were to be taken from a temperate climate where I can roam about in an open barack and play soccer with my cohorts, where I can go to the exercise room, the library, where I can watch TV and get food that satisfies my dietary requirements and suddenly find myself in cold, barren Illinois where I will be forced to exist in a 6 X 6 styled concrete pen... well, I think I might not agree that I was being treated very humanely.

How about you?

To be sure, it doesn't bother me a bit. In fact, it is a bit galling that these terrorists that would just assume kill me and my family are living the life or Riley down in sunny Cuba like they are. That they will be treated like the worst sort of criminals housed in concrete pens almost makes me smile were it not for the fact that they'll be housed only a few hours from my family and I.

But, the whole thing really proves the moral and logical hypocrisy of the left. The left is claiming that Guantanamo is a humanitarian disaster yet they want to take these guys and slap them down into even worse living conditions than they now enjoy. And on top of that the left wants to take terrorists and put them down right in the middle of the people whom they wish to kill!

It just proves that there is no integrity or logic on the left.

© Warner Todd Huston