The Party Line
“So, guys, what are the plans for the day?” I ask the press affairs officers who are quickly becoming my buddies. The days so far have been full: a tour of Camp X-Ray, current detention facilities, and the Northeast Gate–the dividing line between the base and “Cuba proper”, and interviews with the JTF’s cultural advisor and a soldier who guards the detainees in 12 hour shifts. We’ve toured the detainee hospital and library, and have even sampled the food that detainees eat.
Today, we’ll have interviews with the JTF Commander, Admiral Dave Thomas, the base commander, Captain Steven Blaisdell, and Captain Kenneth Garber, the officer-in-charge of OARDEC, the board charged with annual administrative reviews of detainees’ status as enemy combatants. The professor and I are told that we’re the first media visitors to interview Admiral Thomas and Captain Blaisdell; the officers, who occupy the two most powerful positions at Guantanamo, have only been here for 4 months and 1 month, respectively. This news fills us with a sense of importance, maybe.
*
Not a single person we’ve met fits neatly into the stereotypes so easy to dream up from afar as I read about Guantanamo.
The officers are friendly, accessible. They are generous with their time, and they’re patient with our questions. They’re entirely human, people you could imagine yourself being friends with in a different setting. Admiral Thomas bikes to work and expresses a childlike wonder when recalling his 4 AM hike with a herpetologist around the base, checking up on radio-tagged snakes. Captain Blaisdell loves flying and wants to bone up on baseball stats so he’ll be prepared for the next meeting with his Cuban counterparts.
They’re no General Miller.
But for all the civil conversation and the details revealed about their personal lives, the professor is frustrated with the officers’ semantics. The party line is still the same; it’s just presented in a neater package, wrapped with a fancy bow that’s much harder to untangle.
*
The professor wants to talk about the abuses, and, though neither one of us says it, torture.
“This is the most transparent detention facility in the world,” we’re told by several officials. And on a quick tour through the detention facility, someone less critical, less cynical, might well be able to accept that.
But transparency, like so many other abstractions, is a slippery thing.
*
The tours of duty on Guantanamo–from soldier on up the ranks–are short, 6 months to a year. Continuity seems to be a problem, and this problem causes another one far more serious: accountability. Admiral Thomas can’t speak about what happened here four years ago, two years ago, or even this time last year; he wasn’t here. He says that his men and women are merely carrying out policies articulated in their mission, which, he reminds us more than once, were developed “by the people we elected.”
Fair enough, but this fact leaves us with some dilemmas:
How do we trace accountability back down the line?
How do we construct a reliable narrative of Guantanamo during this dark chapter in its history?
Admiral Thomas argues that we can’t.
“All of the accounts are pieces of the mosaic of the truth,” he says. “History will throw down the ultimate answer.”
9 responses to The Party Line
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Julie Schwietert Collazo said on October 28, 2008
Thanks, everyone, for your comments and interest. It means everything to me that you care about what’s going on in Guantanamo, and I’m really just happy to be one voice sharing stories.
Tim Patterson said on October 28, 2008
I’m sitting by a highway in northern Laos and trucks are barreling down from China and there’s a festival right down the way, music drifting, and I am glued…absolutely glued…to your blogs, Julie. You’re doing such fantastic work and your writing just gets better and better. Keep collecting small truths, keep asking questions no one can answer…it all adds up to something.
Jon Brandt said on October 28, 2008
Woops, repeat.
Jon Brandt said on October 28, 2008
Great post Julie. I think it’s great that you showed the career military men as regular people too and not just men in uniform. I’m sure many people can relate, but I have a friend in the army for a career, and he’s just a regular guy who jokes about the same things I do and loves the same sports or activities. What is it like being on the other side of the fence in Cuba this time?
Julie Schwietert Collazo said on October 27, 2008
Thanks, Jacob. I didn’t tell him so, but I thought Admiral Thomas’s last remark about history was strangely similar to Fidel Castro’s famous “History will absolve me” comment.
And you’re right: these men’s bios (and women) are impressive and interesting.
@Eva: Yes, there’s halal food.
Jacob Bielanski said on October 27, 2008
I love admiral Thomas’ final words in this piece, “All of the accounts are pieces of the mosaic of the truth.” Very political…but very true. We all assemble those pieces into the picture we like the most, no?
I’m also glad you delineate how humane, sophisticated and–sometimes–downright charming these military officers can be. I think a lot of people forget that these guys have their bachelor’s degree, if not their master’s or doctorate, in things that don’t have to do with the Army/Navy/Marines/Coast Guard/Air Force.
Eva Holland said on October 27, 2008
Another great blog post. Sounds like an entirely fascinating trip.
Maybe I should wait for the food post to ask, but I’m curious whether there were things like Halal meals available?
Julie Schwietert Collazo said on October 27, 2008
I could actually write an entire blog about eating my way through Guantanamo…and maybe I will. But to answer your question, the detainee meal we sampled was meatloaf, served with mixed vegetables, mixed green salad, bread, and cake, which was served with two juices per person. This menu can be ordered in six different forms, including bland, low sodium, vegetarian, fish, and a couple others that aren’t coming to mind at the moment.
David Miller said on October 27, 2008
this just continues to pique my interest Julie. Curious though, what [i]did [/i]you have to eat?