Lawmaker Tours Become Part of Guantanamo Life

[Judi Lynn]

Lawmaker Tours Become Part of Guantanamo Life
Pentagon Responds to Critics With a PR Push

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 6, 2005; Page A01

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba -- As part of a major Pentagon public relations offensive, dozens of lawmakers are being flown to the maximum-security units here for VIP tours conducted by generals who portray the cells as safe and even comfortable places for suspected terrorists to spend their days.

The visits, organized by the military in a bid to blunt the impact of numerous reports of inhumane treatment and exotic interrogation techniques, have become such a routine part of life at this spartan, sprawling base that signs on the open doors of two maximum-security cells say "Tour Cell."

One aim of the PR offensive is to head off calls from lawmakers of both parties for an independent commission -- structured like the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- to look into the conditions and activities at the Guantanamo Bay prison. The administration is also trying to fend off proposed Senate GOP legislation to ensure humane treatment of prisoners and to restrict interrogation tactics.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers say they are drawn to the prison out of curiosity and concern about the physical conditions and treatment of prisoners. House Government Reform Committee Chairman Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), who led a small delegation Monday, said close scrutiny is essential to improving the United States' image abroad and "winning the hearts and minds of the modern Arab world."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080501568.html
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[izzie]

1. Silly as if they are seeing the true picture.

Sometimes I think Congress thinks we are all two years old.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Well now.... if the "lawmakers" are visiting Gitmo... then everything

must be on the up and up... maybe they could get off their asses and investigate what really happened at Abu Ghraib and exactly how far up the food chain the responsibility for it goes...

[teryang]

3. "Winning the hearts and minds"

Collective insanity.