Reading this item, JURIST – Paper Chase: UPDATE ~ US House members report improved conditions at Gitmo…
After visiting the Guantanamo Bay detention center Saturday [JURIST report], House Republicans and Democrats reported that conditions at the facility are improving. The lawmakers traveled to the detention facility to witness interrogations and observe living conditions of the suspected terrorists. Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) [official website] said that “[t]he Guantanamo we saw today is not the Guantanamo we heard about a few years ago”. The visits come amid mounting pressure from human rights groups and some lawmakers to pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding conditions at the camp [JURIST news archive], and end the use of torture techniques. A Senate visit is scheduled for Sunday. AP has more
… reminds me of this item from the Washington Post last April, Detainee Questioning Was Faked, Book Says; U.S. Military Denies Staging Interviews:
The U.S. military staged the interrogations of terrorism suspects for members of Congress and other officials visiting the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make it appear the government was obtaining valuable intelligence, a former Army translator who worked there claims in a new book scheduled for release Monday.
Former Army Sgt. Erik Saar said the military chose detainees for the mock interrogations who previously had been cooperative and instructed them to repeat what they had told interrogators in earlier sessions, according to an interview with the CBS television program “60 Minutes,” which is slated to air Sunday night.
Kinda makes it hard to know how seriously to take these Congressional visits, doesn't it.
Irrelevant news article: Rumsfeld Nixes Independent Panel on Gitmo.