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Sweet Dreams Restie

I was just watching the Senate Intell hearing of today with Ascroft

The Dems are all worried about how we treat the terrorists that want to cut our throats

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1149827/posts

E-mail from Guantanamo Bay Good news a well-kept secret
The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | Jun. 08, 2004 | Dom Giordano

Posted on 06/08/2004 11:58:15 AM EDT by Mo1

Dom Giordano

is a talk-show host with WPHT-AM (1210) and provides education reports for NBC-TV (Channel 10)

When you hear the words Guantanamo Bay, the words Abu Ghraib seem to echo back.

But I was in Guantanamo for three days last week, and I saw something very different. I concluded that, at Gitmo, we extract information from prisoners not by torture but by developing rapport with them. It involves amenities. Full rolls of toilet paper. Fruit baskets. A field trip barbecue. I talked to prisoners, visited cell blocks, surveyed their medical care, interviewed the base commander and chief interrogator on my show, and allowed callers to probe them with questions. My research extended to the officers who escorted me to breakfast and lunch - even to times when all parties were well lubricated at the Tiki Bar.

The leadership at Gitmo is much more disciplined and focused than the leadership of Maj. Gen. Janis Karpinski at Abu Ghraib appears to have been. Soldiers at Gitmo say they are repulsed by the photos and stories from Abu Ghraib. Senior staff told me of strict patrols of the prison to make sure all is being done properly.

Another great contrast with Abu Ghraib was the interrogator I met at Camp Delta. She was fluent in Arabic and talked about various ways she was able to reach prisoners. She's not leading anyone around in a dog collar.

One story probably summarized best what I saw at Gitmo. I was sitting in a chair in one of the interrogation rooms at Camp Delta when the chief interrogator told me the chair wheels were one of their greatest tools. Some sort of torture device? No: The wheels let interrogators slide in closely to bond with prisoners when they believe they are telling the truth and move away when they are lying.

This mentality is the legacy of Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Miller, who is accused of taking his "brutal" tactics from Gitmo to Iraq and causing the prison scandal. I can't know what Miller did in Iraq, but I think most of us would find the system he put in place in Gitmo as humane and fair treatment for captured Taliban and al-Qaeda members. In fact, a number of my listeners felt the treatment was too good for people we have reason to believe are among the worst of the terrorists.

This picture of humane treatment isn't being widely disseminated by other media sources. Their agenda seems to be that if they can't find a horror story, then there's no story to report. But it should be big news, to stand in contrast to Abu Ghraib.

Humane treatment works not only to get information but also to dissuade significant numbers of these guys away from their urges to attack and kill Americans. In fact, 144 prisoners have been sent back home and have been judged to be a threat to us no longer. I was amazed to consider that we are reaching good numbers of these former al-Qaeda and Taliban members.

I can't say whether the information they are getting at Gitmo is really helping to prevent attacks. I can say they are staying patient and positive.

At Gitmo, they are beginning to assemble military tribunals for four inmates. These were called for by President Bush and, if approved by the Supreme Court, will begin later this summer. This promises to put the American system of justice on view for all the world. For example, Osama bin Laden's driver is at Guantanamo. It will interest many people to know this man has a lawyer - a U.S. military officer who, as I found out, intends to mount a detailed and aggressive defense of his client.

So it's not that the American people can't handle the truth. It's that they are not getting enough of the truth. A visit to Guantanamo persuaded me that the truth is comforting.