Weekend digest

- I am very disappointed that the Pope seems to have recanted his remarks, mild as it is. Although his "apology" still doesn't go far enough for some Muslim clerics, this sad episode is clearly a win for those who are stuck in their own pre-Enlightenment view of the world. This will only further embolden Islamic fundamentalists across the globe who reject the twin concepts of introspection and critical thought. Forgive me for suggesting this, but it seems to me to be increasingly uncertain if Islam can comfortably co-exist with the values of Western civilization.

- A word on the President's request to Congress that they clarify and define the limits of "alternative interrogation practices" within the context of the Geneva Conventions, an agreement to which al-Qaeda is most certainly not a signatory. Richard Minitner recently went to Guantanamo and found the following:

The high-minded critics who complain about torture are wrong. We are far too soft on these guys - and, as a result, aren't getting the valuable intelligence we need to save American lives.

The politically correct regulations are unbelievable. Detainees are entitled to a full eight hours sleep and can't be woken up for interrogations. They enjoy three meals and five prayers per day, without interruption. They are entitled to a minimum of two hours of outdoor recreation per day.

Interrogations are limited to four hours, usually running two - and (of course) are interrupted for prayers. One interrogator actually bakes cookies for detainees, while another serves them Subway or McDonald's sandwiches. Both are available on base. (Filet o' Fish is an al Qaeda favorite.)

Interrogations are not video or audio taped, perhaps to preserve detainee privacy.

More:

The kinder we are to terrorists, the harsher we are to their potential victims.

Striking the balance between these two goods (humane treatment, foreknowledge of deadly attacks) is difficult, but the Bush administration seems to lean too far in the direction of the detainees. No expense spared for al Qaeda health care: Some 5,000 dental operations (including teeth cleanings) and 5,000 vaccinations on a total of 550 detainees have been performed since 2002 - all at taxpayer expense. Eyeglasses? 174 pairs handed out. Twenty two detainees have taxpayer-paid prosthetic limbs. And so on.

What if a detainee confesses a weakness (like fear of the dark) to a doctor that might be useful to interrogators, I asked the doctor in charge, would he share that information with them? "My job is not to make interrogations more efficient," he said firmly. He cited doctor-patient privacy. (He also asked that his name not be printed, citing the potential for al Qaeda retaliation.)

Food is strictly halal and averages 4,200 calories per day. (The guards eat the same chow as the detainees, unless they venture to one of the on-base fast-food joints.) Most prisoners have gained weight.

Much has been written about the elaborate and unprecedented appeal process. Detainees have their cases reviewed once a year and get rights roughly equivalent to criminals held in domestic prisons. I asked a military legal adviser: In what previous war were captured enemy combatants eligible for review before the war ended? None, he said.

America has never faced an enemy who has so ruthlessly broken all of the rules of war - yet never has an enemy been treated so well.

If you're skeptical of what Mintner says, how about James Tarantno of the Wall St. Journal, who suggests that there's no such thing as solitary confinement at Gitmo?

The case against Guantanamo rests on a web of falsehood. Far from being held "beyond the laws of civilized nations"--laws that terrorists, by definition, reject--the detainees here enjoy a panoply of procedural protections. All except the 14 recent arrivals have gone before Combatant Status Review Tribunals to re-examine their designation as enemy combatants--even though these "Article V" hearings are required under international law only if that designation is in doubt, and under the U.S. Supreme Court's 2004 Hamdi v. Rumsfeld ruling if the detainee is a U.S. citizen. (Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told me last week that the newly arrived detainees had not yet received Article V hearings but would.) In addition, each detainee annually goes before an Administrative Review Board, analogous to a parole hearing, which determines whether he can be released without harming U.S. security.

These processes are not mere window dressing. As President Bush noted in a speech last week, some 315 of 770 Guantanamo detainees have been released from U.S. custody, either through one of these proceedings or through informal processes that predated them. More than a dozen of the freed detainees, Mr. Bush added, are known to have returned to the battlefield, suggesting that the procedures are, if anything, too lenient.

Many detainees also have petitioned for habeas corpus since the Supreme Court's 2004 Rasul v. Bush ruling; and of course trials for the four detainees who've been charged with war crimes have been delayed only because Osama bin Laden's bodyguard was able to avail himself of our appellate courts to challenge the legality of the proceedings.

Likewise, it is nonsense to say the detainees are "completely cut off from the world." There is no solitary confinement at Guantanamo; even at maximum-security Camp 5, the cells have outside light and openings in the doors through which detainees can communicate with one another. They have ample contact with the world beyond the camp, too. "Over 40,000 pieces of mail have come in and out of here," Adm. Harris says. "If you chose to write one of them a letter, all you'd need to do is put their name on it, say 'Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,' put our ZIP code on it, and they will get that letter.

"Most of the detainees have lawyers," the admiral adds. "There are over 900 habeas lawyers representing less than 450 detainees," and the lawyers are free to visit their clients. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross "come down for almost a month at a time, four times a year, and then [for shorter periods] at other times, and they have unfettered access to any detainee they want to see, whenever they want to see them."

Leaving purely politically motivated attacks against the President aside, compare this debate, which is happening in full public view, to the sometimes ethically questionable tactics employed to destroy the two evils of Nazism and Communism. In addition, it must also be recognized that al-Qaeda would certainly not show such concern for the status of enemy combatants. I have not come to ground on this issue, personally, but I strongly believe two things: first, that this new enemy is forcing us to fundamentally re-think the balance security versus liberty, and secondly, that the richness of this debate and discussion, which has engaged all three branches of the US government, the public, the media AND the international community demonstrates the humanity, decency and reasonability that is at the very core of American society. Whether you think torture is justified OR effective, the fact that this conversation is even happening in such a way undeniably puts the United States on the moral high ground right from the start.

- Another reason to love the Aussies - the Australian Broadcasting Corporation had Christopher Hitchens appearing on the anniversary of 9/11. As Fred points out, you'd NEVER see someone like him on the CBC, not even to provide equal time to someone with a point of view that differs from the pap they usually offer up as "public interest" journalism. More on Hitchens's divorce from the Left, here.

- I've been pretty hard on the city of Ottawa lately, but I have to disagree with this reviewer who comments on a less than capacity crowd of 12,000 fans for Friday night's concert by The Who at Scotiabank Place by asking "(W)hat's wrong with you, Ottawa?" I don't think in this case there's anything wrong with Ottawa, but instead with artists who charge over $200 just for each person to walk through the door of the arena, not to mention parking, a couple of pops, etc. etc.

- Very illuminating article here on a popular Toronto morning show host who has recently dealt with panic attacks. As someone who has had a history of these myself, it's tremendously important that people who think they need help ASK for it, as this fella did. It will be the best thing you can do for yourself - trust me on that one.