Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Miami Herald
April 3, 2009
Pg. 5
Guantanamo camps commander says celebrity visits to the detention center are good for morale and good for transparency
By Carol Rosenberg
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Guantánamo's prison camps commander said Thursday he would continue to allow celebrity visits despite a simmering controversy over a visit last month by Miss Universe and Miss USA.
'They were on tour to say `hello and thank you' to the guard force,'' said Navy Rear Adm. David M. Thomas Jr., sweeping aside a claim that letting celebrities see war-on-terror detainees violated Geneva Convention protections.
The USO, the group that sent comedian Bob Hope to Vietnam, sponsored the visit March 21-24 by Crystle Stewart, Miss USA, and Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza, a 22-year-old model from Venezuela, who posted a glowing description of this remote Caribbean outpost on her website. ''The water in Guantánamo Bay is soooo beautiful!'' gushed Mendoza.
She also made passing mention of meeting military dogs and her visit to the prison camps, ''the jails, where they shower, how they recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books,'' she said. ``It was very interesting.''
Beauty queens
Guantánamo guards said the beauty queens were dressed conservatively and drew no particular attention from detainees when they stood at the same spot where journalists typically watch captives living in a communal-style compound called Camp 4.
A provision of the Third Geneva Conventions forbids the parade of POWs for ''public curiosity'' -- a rule that the Pentagon has interpreted to mean that news photographers can take only pictures that blur the identities of the captives.
`Very scrupulous'
Thomas noted that ''the press sees the same stuff'' in its visits to the camps as did Mendoza and Stewart. ``We certainly are very scrupulous in our adherence to the Geneva Conventions.''
But Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, a defense lawyer whose client, a Sudanese captive, lives in Camp 4, said that U.S. reporters have a First Amendment right to visit the place.
''What exactly was she reporting on?'' said Lachelier, referring to Mendoza's blog posting. ``The suntan she got in Guantánamo?''
April 3, 2009
Pg. 5
Guantanamo camps commander says celebrity visits to the detention center are good for morale and good for transparency
By Carol Rosenberg
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Guantánamo's prison camps commander said Thursday he would continue to allow celebrity visits despite a simmering controversy over a visit last month by Miss Universe and Miss USA.
'They were on tour to say `hello and thank you' to the guard force,'' said Navy Rear Adm. David M. Thomas Jr., sweeping aside a claim that letting celebrities see war-on-terror detainees violated Geneva Convention protections.
The USO, the group that sent comedian Bob Hope to Vietnam, sponsored the visit March 21-24 by Crystle Stewart, Miss USA, and Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza, a 22-year-old model from Venezuela, who posted a glowing description of this remote Caribbean outpost on her website. ''The water in Guantánamo Bay is soooo beautiful!'' gushed Mendoza.
She also made passing mention of meeting military dogs and her visit to the prison camps, ''the jails, where they shower, how they recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books,'' she said. ``It was very interesting.''
Beauty queens
Guantánamo guards said the beauty queens were dressed conservatively and drew no particular attention from detainees when they stood at the same spot where journalists typically watch captives living in a communal-style compound called Camp 4.
A provision of the Third Geneva Conventions forbids the parade of POWs for ''public curiosity'' -- a rule that the Pentagon has interpreted to mean that news photographers can take only pictures that blur the identities of the captives.
`Very scrupulous'
Thomas noted that ''the press sees the same stuff'' in its visits to the camps as did Mendoza and Stewart. ``We certainly are very scrupulous in our adherence to the Geneva Conventions.''
But Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, a defense lawyer whose client, a Sudanese captive, lives in Camp 4, said that U.S. reporters have a First Amendment right to visit the place.
''What exactly was she reporting on?'' said Lachelier, referring to Mendoza's blog posting. ``The suntan she got in Guantánamo?''