Back in the bygone year of 1980, when punk still had the power to shock and South East Asia was a war torn mess, The Dead Kennedys released their second single, Holiday in Cambodia.
At the time, Cambodia had only just been released from Pol Pot's genocidal regime and was occupied by the Vietnamese army. There weren't any back-packers or 5-star hotels at Angkor Wat and they didn't sell postcards at the Killing Fields. The country was devastated, dangerous and traumatized, hence the savage irony - and shock value - of the Kennedys' choice of title.
I've had the song running through my head all week as friends and colleagues tell me to "Enjoy Guantanamo!" and "Have fun at Gitmo!". That's right, I'm having a holiday in Guantanamo Bay. Well, a media tour of the, er, "facility", but you get the idea.
In 2010, a holiday in Guantanamo is as absurd a notion as a holiday in Cambodia would have been in 1980. But that's where the similarity ends. For those of us lucky enough to be on the right side of the cell door, it's not dangerous or devastated. In fact, since 2001 the US government has spent 500 million dollars renovating the place. It now has a go-kart track ($249,000) and a KFC/Taco Bell ($773,000) to go with the movie theaters - yes, plural - and the tiki bar. Yes, the tiki bar. Oh, and they do sell postcards - or at least coffee mugs and t-shirts and baseball caps, according to the media information sheet they sent me. It's America abroad: Americatown.
But hang on a minute. This is Guantanamo, isn't it? The place that sends shivers down the spine of pretty much everyone except Dick Cheney?
Well, kinda. If you visit the website - http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil, tag line "Safe, Humane, Legal, Transparent" - it does sound fun. The weather's great and the beaches are beautiful. What's not to like?
Oh, right. The whole prison thing. Except that it's not a prison - that would imply that the people being held there had been convicted of something. It's a detention center, meaning that all those men in their infamous orange jumpsuits and shackles don't even have a sentence to count down. They're in limbo. As for their living conditions, by continuing to keep many records secret, the US government seems to agree that we don't even want to know. Nevertheless, well-documented allegations of torture and inhumane treatment abound. And even now, as the Obama administration tries to close down what it rightly sees as America's most unpopular and damaging institution, at least 48 of the 181 detainees still there face indefinite detention - likely somewhere on the US mainland, like Thomson, Illinois. Same conditions, only with added lousy weather. Not exactly a victory for civil liberties.
And for people like me who love America for its warmth and creativity and, yes, freedom, it's heartbreaking to see that these days making an Americatown overseas means bringing fast food and entertainment, all the while leaving the really important - and what I've always thought of as really American - stuff behind.
But if I'm not too busy go-karting or playing volleyball on the beach, I'll write more once I'm there and can tell you what it's really like - probably while enjoying a mai tai at the tiki bar. Stay tuned.
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i dont think you know what you are talking about. you paint this picture of unicorns and rainbows with the only downside being that the soldiers neighbors are terrorist kept behind bars what you forgot to include is that the men and women in uniform there are spending a year or more away from family and friends without the ability to leave the base that they are stationed at. they miss weddings births graduations birthdays and many other important mile stones in loved ones lives because they are stationed there and with that in mind i find no problem spending money on small things like fast food and a tiki bar to make the soldiers feel they more comfortable there and make the time pass quicker. the beach volleyball and movie theaters can also provise a distraction from what they are missing out on stateside with their loved ones. i cant imagine that these people feel they are on a vacation at some nice resort. they work in a prison full of terrorist for pete sake. maybe if you were there for a year and actually did a soldiers job there you would be singing a different tune. i thank the people that fight day in and day out for our freedom of speech so that you can write your distorted recount of your visit to gtmo and so that people that know and love the ones serving over there can tell you that your article is bologna.
In response to the above, I believe your thoughts are a bit selfish. You've got to think out of the box for a moment- think in a wider spectrum. Granted, a guard's life isn't easy; It involves long hours in the hot Caribbean sun and many days away from family- away from reality. So the guards are afforded the amenities of home and things are better for the moment, but what about the detainees who are held in limbo? It is a tough subject to broach because military commissions were supposed to take the place of civilian trials to speed up the process of litigation, but alas, a great number of detainees still find themselves held by the US. Who are the true terrorists? Who are the wrongfully accused? The answer is to stop spending energy accusing the government of torture (because I am certain that torture does NOT take place in Guantanamo), stop arguing that guards have it tough (when over 1,000 American military men and women not to mention allied forces, have died already in this war) and urge the government to make a more rapid finish of what was started with the military commissions.
In response to the article, I don't think it's fair to compare your visit to Guantanamo Bay to post-Vietnam War Cambodia in which around 7 million people were murdered. It is not that, nor is it the common image everyone seems to share- a trenchant lingering of Abu Ghraib or Camp X-ray.
I look forward to reading/hearing your next article/broadcast to see if your ideas of Guantanamo change.
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