On Sunday, June 20, at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the lunch menu for suspected al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other prisoners in the War on Terror was as follows: whole-wheat pita bread, stewed tomatoes, long-grain brown rice, chickpeas, dates, yogurt, and tea. For dinner, the suspected terrorists were served green beans, carrots, chicken and noodles, whole-wheat bread, fresh fruit, and tea. For both meals, as for all others served at what is known as Camp Delta, U.S. forces took care to make sure the food served to Muslim prisoners was prepared in accordance with halal dietary requirements. Detainees “receive three culturally appropriate meals each day,” one official told National Review, and another officer e-mailed from Guantanamo to say, “I can reassure you that we are definitely attuned to the cultural dietary needs of the detainees. Nothing that is not appropriate is ever given to them to eat or drink.”
Such measures, along with many others concerning the prisoners’ daily lives, suggest that the American military is going to great lengths to ensure that detainees, a number of them jihadists captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan, are treated humanely. Yet in recent days the Bush administration has found itself facing accusations that it permits the “torture” of prisoners in the War on Terror. Critics in Congress and the press have suggested that the administration has not only condoned torture, but has used illegal methods of interrogation on detainees.
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