Caribbean Retreat
The prison camp in Guantanamo – the very same place described by right-wingers as “a luxury hotel” – is the site of an unusual protest. Unusual, that is, for the standards of a Caribbean retreat of such world-class accommodations. Of the over five hundred “detainees” currently being held there, fifty-two are staging a hunger strike. That’s about ten percent of the happily incarcerated tourists that are complaining. By the standards of, say, a Havana Hilton there are too many unhappy guests.
Perhaps they protest the lousy margaritas, or the carbohydrate-laden meals. Perhaps, in their idleness and luxury, they find it hard to fit into the gowns and tuxedos they brought from the mainland, and they wish to loose a few pounds before the next fete.
Few Americans know just how cushy their lives are; not much information is shared with the media - perhaps because they don’t want millions of summer vacationers to ruin their pristine beaches. Here we have the best permanent-residence resort community that the American government can supply, smack in the middle of the beautiful Caribbean, and the ungrateful wretches are complaining?!?
What really gets me is that the hunger strikers are protesting what they call “Inhumane conditions.” This can’t be possible. I’ve heard Rush Limbaugh say that the Gitmo facility is no worse than a Federal light-security prison. And we all know how soft those people have it. Besides, after the brouhaha a few months ago, the owners have surely cleaned it up by now. Even the Red Cross are sending a few representative to Gitmo to sample the food and bounce on the beds. No way they have it as bad as all that.