Cerritos Republican Club 2010 Events

Timothy's role at the Delta camp of the Guantanamo naval base, nicknamed GTMO or "Gitmo", was to assure that the above standards were being met. He showed many pictures of Delta camp. These include the living quarters for medium security detainees who actually had more living space than the soldiers guarding them. For maximum security detainees, it was one person per cell. Unlike what you might imagine as solitary confinement, the single person cell was very well lighted with one wall consisting of an iron diamond fence which allowed detainees to see and talk with other detainees in the ward. Exercise equipment similar to what you see in Cerritos Park East were made available to the detainees.

Medical inspections are made with every single detainee daily. "How are you today?" "My big toe hurts." "I'll report that to the doctor." The next day the detained has an appointment to see the doctor about his hurt toe. They have better health care than many Americans. Refrigerators with soft drinks, Gatorade, and ice are available. Prayer time is announced according to an atomic clock. An arrow pointing to Mecca is provided so that they can always face Mecca during prayer. Life was so good that many detainees did not want to leave when they were being released.

In order to understand why these "terrorists" are being detained, one must understand who they are. First of all, in their society, birth records and other public records are nonexistent. So we don't know who they are, and it's very difficult to find out. If you read The Al Queda Manual found in Manchester, England, you will find that the recruits are being called into a confrontation (jihad or holy war). They will learn "... the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing, and destruction, and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine gun..." If they are caught and questioned, they are taught to lie and not reveal any information that would identify them as terrorists. "I am a beekeeper and I heard that there were a lot of bees there...." However sometimes a detainee may reveal a small bit of information (such as the name of a friend in New York) which is followed up. Some of these tidbits have been useful in discovering terrorist cells throughout the world. This in itself justifies Gitmo's existence.

In 2004 when news of torture in Abu Ghraib surfaced, much attention was drawn toward Gitmo. The media presumed that Gitmo would have similar problems. In contrast, investigations found that Gitmo was a well run facility where NO DETAINEE has ever been abused. It was reported that extreme temperatures were imposed on detainees to torture them. An investigation revealled that, yes, they were exposed to temperature extremes. Picture this: The detainee is in his cell, perhaps in a larger room with several other detainees. The room is air conditioned. Everyone is nice and comfortable. Then they are asked to go outside where the temperature is in the 90s. That's hot! This is misrepresented as temperature extreme torture. How many times have Palm Springs residents submitted themselves to this kind of temperature extreme?

What about prisoners abusing their guards? There are over a million reports of this type of abuse. Examples include incidents when prisoners have hidden a cup of feces mixed with urine under a blanket and, at the right moment, threw the cup's contents on unsuspecting guards. What kind of behavior is this?

What about the future of Gitmo detainees? Many of them will be released because they are not the hard core terrorists. What about the remaining 250 or so hard core terrorists? We cannot put them in federal prisons on American soil where they will immediately gain legal rights causing huge problems. Who will take them? No one wants them. What will happen? Maybe the Obama Administration will find a solution.