| Hat tip Instapundit. |
The first fact notes that the inmates include some truly nasty terrorist trainers and bombmakers. The second says "More money is spent on meals for detainees than" on U.S. troops stationed there. "The average weight gain per detainee is 20 pounds."
| Not near enough. They should gain 100 pounds each. A fat terrorist is a slow terrorist. |
The prisoners receive free medical, dental and psychiatric care, and in 2005 "there were 35 teeth cleanings." The other 400 or so housed there will have to wait awhile.
Fact No. 5 notes that the Red Cross visits "every few months" and that there's regular contact between the terrorism suspects and their families.
"Recreation activities include basketball, volleyball, soccer, ping-pong and board games," according to Fact No. 6. "High-top sneakers are provided."
We are told that upon release, everyone gets "a Koran, a jean jacket, a white T-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, high-top sneakers" -- a second pair -- "a gym bag of toiletries" (remember not to try to take the liquids onboard), and "a pillow and blanket for the flight home."
Fact No. 8, probably one of the most important, notes that, contrary to what you might have heard, the prisoners actually really want to be in Guantanamo. "The mother of a detainee stated: 'Of course they wanted to stay there. . . . They had human rights and good living standards there. They had dentists and good meals -- everything they wanted.' " Turns out, this quote from a March 2004 edition of the London Times was a Russian mother comparing Guantanamo with Russian jails.
| Or you could compare the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib with American versus Iraqi prisoners. |
And Fact No. 10. "In 2005, Amnesty International stated that 'the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay has become the gulag of our times.' " This last fact was intended as a shot at Amnesty for comparing a veritable five-star hotel with the infamous Soviet labor camps. After all, the commies never gave away high-tops.
| They were stingy with food, too, as I recall. |
Matt Latimer, director of the Pentagon writers group, who put together the list, said, "We welcome the chance to let people know there's more than one side to the story in Guantanamo." Latimer said, "We've gotten a lot of kudos from people who are glad we are at last . . . defending the facility."