Inside Gitmo
Chapter 10: Daily Life at Gitmo
Content Summary
- Is confinement at Guantanamo really the inhumane, abusive environment portrayed by activists, some international organizations like the UN, and defense attorneys paint? Here we look at day-to-day conditions that exist in Gitmo.
- Would it surprise you to learn that beginning with the Camp X-Ray days in early 2002 detainees have always had better chow, better medical care, and better living conditions (less freedom of movement, of course) than have American soldiers and sailors who guard them?
- Learn how detainees receive 4,200 calorie, Halal meals daily, cooked to stringent standards and from a menu that rotates more frequently than the variety given US military personnel. You may be shocked to learn of the over-the-top efforts taken on Muslim feast days like Eid, the end of Ramadan, to prepare large, expensive meals for them to celebrate.
- Discover that the US spends twice as much on food for detainees than for American soldiers in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Medical care is extraordinary. Prosthetic limbs given detainees are the same quality used to treat US combat veterans. Detainees see a physician on average 4 times monthly. Contrast that number of doctor's visits with a typical US male who may see a doctor 3.7 times annually.
- Full dental care including implants and dentures is available on-call to detainees.
- While some came with active diseases such as TB, they have been treated and immunized for disease. For many detainees this is a first in their lifetimes.
- Voluntary colonoscopies are available for men over 50, heart surgery has been performed, and psychiatric treatment is offered.
- Discover how hospital visits degenerated into virtual riots, how nurses and medical personnel were routinely assaulted, and how too-liberal dispensing of medications was used in suicide attempts.
Reprinted end notes from chapter ten of the book, with links to source
documents
and other supporting materials
1. Author conversation with head Medical Officer, JTF Guantánamo, who
asked to stay anonymous, June 2005.
2. Author interview with CSM Menendez, JTF GTMO, Joint Detention
Operations Group, June 2005.
3. Author interview with USN Lieutenant David Sym, January 2006.
4. The term halal refers to a special handling, processing, and slaughtering
technique compatible with strict Koranic precepts. It is very similar to
kosher food processing.
5. Author interviews June and September 2005, January and March 2006.
6. “General Says Guantánamo Vital for Gathering Terror Intelligence: Detention
Center Provides Humane Treatment, Facilitates Religious Worship,”
Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr., Washington File Staff Writer, State
Department Press Release, March 29, 2005.
7. Susan Okie, MD, “Glimpses of Guantánamo— Medical Ethics and the
War on Terror,” The New En gland Journal of Medicine, Vol. 355:2529- 2534,
No. 24, December 15, 2005.
8. Ibid.
9. Carol J. Williams, “Kicked Out of Gitmo,” Los Angeles Times, June 18,
2006.
10. Author interview with hospital commander who wished to remain anonymous,
May 2006.
11. Author interview with hospital personnel, May 2006.
12. Conversation with Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) John Rudisill, May 2006.
13. Author interview with hospital commander, December 2006.
14. Ibid.
15. Dennis interview, January 2007.
16. Group interview with medical personnel, May 2006. |
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Chapter Summaries & Source Documents
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The Inside Gitmo email-based discussion group on Guantanamo's detention facility is intended to encourage rational, civil discussion of the myriad issues and problems associated with the facility, the detainees, and the staff.
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 "I've also been 'inside GITMO,' and Cucullu's riveting account shows why we've been safer with it — and why we may soon regret being without it."— Monica Crowley, host of the Monica Crowley Show and author of Nixon in Winter
 "Our new president should read it — twice — and take its truth-telling to heart." — Ralph Peters, columnist and author of Looking For Trouble
 "Every relevant military and civilian official should give Cucullu's analysis a fair hearing." — Victor Davis Hanson, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author of An Autumn of War
 "An explosive expos of what's really been happening - 'inside the wire' at Guantanamo. Gordon Cucullu - with his Special Forces background, thorough research and extensive visits to Gitmo - knows more about the now-infamous detention facility than any 'outsider.' This book is a must-read for all who care about how we protect ourselves from those who are dying to kill us." — Oliver North, LtCol USMC (Ret.), host of War Stories on FOX News Channel & NYT bestselling author of American Heroes in the Fight Against Radical Islam
 "Inside Gitmo is a book of incalculable importance. It lays bare the myths and the stakes involved in the campaign to shut down a facility that any objective reader must conclude is vital to our national security. Every policy-maker in Washington and every citizen across America should study this books brilliant first-hand reporting and its alarming findings." — Frank Gaffney, Jr, President, Center for Security Policy and author of War Footing
 "Gordon Cucullu has written a lively work of history that fulfills its promise to explode 'the myths of Guantanamo Bay.' Anyone who wants to speak authoritatively about the Bush administration's detainee policies has to read this book." — Douglas J. Feith, senior fellow, Hudson Institute, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and author of War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism
The "Living Book" Concept
The "Living Book" Concept
This companion web site to Inside Gitmo was conceived and executed by Avery Johnson in collaboration with Chuck Martin. As a highly skilled, experienced researcher, Avery imposes strict demands on her work and that of author's with whom she works. Every stated fact must be backed by hard documentation. Hence readers find 524 citations in Inside Gitmo from a multiplicity of sources. Avery took that as "a good start."
Her concept - that you can interact with on these pages - is that with an issue as dynamic and multi-faceted as Guantanamo is too large to be captured only in a work of print. In order to complement and supplement the final work so that readers may continue to be apprised of developments on this critical subject and dig deeper into subjects that interest them, it is necessary and valuable to take advantage of technology.
Illustrative of this concept is that this site functions as a repository for all original documents used in the book as well as providing additional sources for continued research into the subject. For readers seeking context for specific passages referenced in the book, the site provides access to the original report, news article, book, or other source quoted. By so doing we are able to circumvent necessary space limitations in print by augmenting the book with electronic back-up.
Additionally, the site goes where print cannot: it provides an email based discussion group, videos, updated news articles, a blog, podcasts, and other resources. It highlights new developments, steers readers to newly published works, and offers visitors the opportunity to purchase relevant works from the site.
I think that this concept - a continually updated, vibrant companion website for a published book with complete references included - ought to be the new gold standard in publishing and strongly urge new and proven writers and authors to advantage themselves of these services.
Avery Johnson and her team can be contacted at avery.j@comcast.net.
I'm a retired Green Beret lieutenant colonel, Vietnam War veteran and career officer, and now a writer. After serving more than thirteen years in East Asia I was sent on assignments in El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and eventually worked Korea and East Asian affairs at both the Pentagon and Department of State.
My many adventures since then have included raising llamas and alpacas in upstate New York, serving as the Executive Director of the Korea Society in Manhattan, working as an international marketing VP for General Electric in Asia, and traveling within corners of the world that few have had the privilege of experiencing.
In April-May 2008 I spent a month embedded with Military Police units in Iraq. Stories from my trip are posted at supportamericansoldiers.com — a book about what I saw and learned is also in the making.
My first book Separated at Birth: How North Korea became the Evil Twin was published in September 2004. |
Author's Notes
Many of the articles and works referenced in the book Inside Gitmo contain highly controversial, often inflamatory, and frequently inaccurate information. I cited these works for very specific reasons - to extract quotes, show contravailing points of view, and, in cases where factual information is contained in the piece, to use sources that may be intellectually opposed to Guantanamo for balance.
Use of these varied references does not imply that I agree with most, all, or any of the content. They are used for the reasons noted above, and ought to be read in context with the entire book for complete understanding.
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