The multifacted world of Gitmo "torture."

With the perpetual media drumbeat about American human rights abuses in its detention facilities providing yahoos like Dick Durbin and Amnesty International platforms to irresponsibly mischaracterize the realities of what is happening in the "American Gulag", it is important that we try to maintain some perspective on the treatment of prisoners.

While I am deeply troubled by the Administration's mucking-around in the shadowy periphery of torture, let us also be clear that it is the periphery. That is not to absolve it of responsibility, but there is also the matter of scale. Yes, there have been murders, rapes, renditions, ghost detainees, etc. But it is not clear that these abuses are systematic or widespread. That there is not more transparency, and therefore certainty about the scale, is nonethless of serious concern. But let us also be clear that we are not talking about Auschwitz or the Khmer Rouge's Killing Fields. Nor are we talking about anything on the order of this week's buzzword, Soviet gulags. But the unfortunate grandstanding of Durbin and Amnesty by making comparisons has actually deflected attention from the real problems and taken the heat off of the Bush Administration. Remember, while we aren't talking about gulags, we are talking about an issue which needs to be urgently addressed by the Administration with full transparency, strengthened operating modalities and a re-commitment to American values and international standards.

That said, a brief review of a recent menu at Gitmo should make it quite clear that these detainees are not comparable to those cited in the historical examples above. California Congressman Duncan Hunter (who isn't my favorite, but he makes a good point here) recently described the June 12 Gitmo menu to FoxNews:

"For Sunday they're going to be having Orange Glazed Chicken, Fresh Fruit Roupee, Steamed Peas and Mushrooms, Rice Pilaf - we treat them very well," he told Fox. Last night, Hunter said, the U.S. "torture victims" enjoyed the same kind of gourmet fare, including an entree of "Lemon-baked Fish." On the other hand, feeding the detainees MREs, the standard fare given to our troops on the front lines, is strictly verboten - considered an "abuse" under restrictions imposed by Congress, Hunter said. The top House Republican also noted that the religious practices of the terrorist suspects held at the U.S. "gulag" are scrupulously accommodated, explaining: "We give them honey and dates when they break fast at Ramadan. We give them prayer beads and prayer oil - all paid for [by the U.S. taxpayer.] "In fact," he said, "if you did that for American GIs - if you had a call to prayer five times a day - the ACLU would sue on the basis that we violated the separation between church and state."

Again, this doesn't excuse ANY violation committed by the United States, but I think it's important that we try to maintain a little perspective as we are deluged with prisoner abuse stories. However, if you would like to prepare some of those yummy Gitmo delicacies at home, you can order the cookbook here.