Thursday, June 08, 2006
(9:02 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Remembering Guantánamo Bay
As we know, apparently our nation's guests at the Guantánamo Bay resort in Cuba were treated very well. They were served rice pilaf, for instance -- a dish that I had actually never heard of before learning that those who were temporarily relocated to a lawless no-man's-land on the territory of one of America's greatest enemies were enjoying it, presumably even as I watched the news report.I get the impression that it was something like a very long summer camp, and according to some reports, the detainees are responding to the end of their tropical vacation in a typically American way: through t-shirt creation. Several of the more artistically-inclined guests put together a series of patterns bearing the following messages:
For their children, they came up with this little number:I SURVIVED
Guantánamo Bay
2002-2006
Red Team 4-EVA!
Camp Softball Champions
Guantánamo Bay '05
Pass the Pilaf!
One of the guards took their designs to a Cuban screen printing shop, but unfortunately, due to the embargo, they hadn't had t-shirts in stock for six years.My father was indefinitely detained at Guantánamo Bay...
and all I got was this stupid t-shirt!
It occurs to me that although our resort appears to be stepping down its operations, it might be a good idea to officially incorporate Guantánamo Bay into the territory of the United States, somewhat along the lines of the District of Columbia -- just so we never forget how we showed those terrorists what it really means to respect human dignity, even in the very worst circumstances. And of course, no non-state territorial entity in the United States would be complete without a clever lisence plate motto like that of Washington, D.C.: "Taxation without representation."
Oh, the wry wit! So characteristically American! I wonder what the future residents of the Guantánamo Bay district would put on their lisence plates.
