Miss Universe pops into Guantánamo Bay

Those of you stuck for a holiday destination this summer might consider Guantánamo Bay - described last week by Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza as a "loooot of fun!" Venezuelan minx Mendoza, 22, popped into the US's illegal Caribbean detention centre accompanied by pal Crystle Stewart, who boasts the title Miss USA. On her blog, …

[Andrij]

it's just today

sigh.

[Anonymous Coward]

"How they recreate themselves"

Is this just bad bimbo grammar, or is she perhaps talking about people reattaching their body parts post-interrogation?

[Anonymous Coward]

2girls1camp

"I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful."

Pass the bucket.

[Chris Collins]

pics

Where are the pics of them in their fetching orange jumpsuits and hoods? Although that Mendoza looks like she lives on gruel already. Send her some food parcels.

[Uncle Slacky]

@Eq

To be generous, it's probably because she's Venezuelan, so English isn't her first language. It sounds like the sort of literal translation of reflexive verbs you get with French-to-English translation, so I suspect a similar thing happens with Spanish.

[Robert Grant]

No-one may use the word "recreation" again!

That is all.

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

No joke

According to BBC this story IS true: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7976288.stm

[Anonymous Coward]

This is one reason why

I've lost hope for the future of humanity. Please, let aliens fly by, see what a shithole this planet is and blow it to little pieces.

Maybe we can hope for Gordon Brown to spend a week as an inmate in Wormwood Scrubs...?

[David Edwards]

Guantanamo Babes?

Missed opportunity.

[Les Matthew]

"She admitted:"

I admitted that I was reaching for the sick bag when I read that line.

[Anonymous Coward]

But what...

...do Harold and Kumar have to say about it?

[Steve Swann]

Two words...

'kin morons.

[Kevin Reader]

I'm confused now...

I popped into el Reg to look for THE April Fool story and half the front page appears to be candidates. So either you've been really busy OR the world is in a right mess.

[Psymon]

"I don't want to leave..."

Please don't, then. You'd be doing us all, and the gene pool a massive favour.

Sigh.

Is it just me, or has America stopped putting any effort into disguising their obvious attempts at propaganda?

I suspect the reason it washes with the unwashed masses is due to the dire state of education. Not that it's much better over this side of the pond...

[Anonymous Coward]

@Eq

I recall one of Cat Steven's (Yusuf Islam's) songs that goes "God's recreation of a new day", and wondering about the atypical context in which it was used.

But Ms. Mendoza has come up with a newer variant...

[Loki]

Its probably a new torture tactic

Come on, these guys have been locked up for months/years and seeing a woman like this probably had them all standing to attention (i think you know what i mean).

I'm sure after this event the officers went around the cells saying how nice it would be if the inmates were free again so they could meet Miss Universe. All they need to do is to sign this paper admitting to whatever and they are free to go.

[Anonymous Coward]

Crystle???

Nyargh! There's bad spelling, wrong spelling and then there's THAT spelling. Doing my head in.

[Anonymous Coward]

More about the trip

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/miss-universe-visits-guantanamo/

[Anonymous Coward]

@Psymon

"Is it just me, or has America stopped putting any effort into disguising their obvious attempts at propaganda?"

Miss *Venezuela*? Do you read the news? Does the name Chavez ring any bells?

[Peyton]

What I find interesting...

She's from Venezuela... My understanding is it's hard to live in Venezuela without getting the impression that their leader a)doesn't think highly of the US (putting it lightly) and b)does think highly of Fidel. Since this story is apparently true, I'm curious if Hugo can be reached for comment =)

[Anonymous Coward]

Do they have food at the Miss Universe contest?

Perhaps this demonstrates what happens to a person's brain if she only gets to eat one small meal per week.

[Anonymous Coward]

Put me in a bear suit and call me Mohhamed

Is there anything in the Koran about what should happen to you when you cock up your attempts to destroy the infidels, big-time? I somehow doubt that the great Prophet had this scenario in mind!

[James Pickett]

Detention

"All the guys from the army were amazing with us"

All of them? How long were they there for..?

[John Savard]

Regrettable

Since many Americans do not trust their court system, feeling that it is capable of turning Osama bin Laden loose to strike again if the arresting officer failed to read him his rights in Arabic, I am not shocked that the Bush Administration felt that something like Guantanamo was the only responsible option available.

What should be done, of course, is to sit down and amend the Constitution so that the rights of the accused are protected - even in cases of terrorism - but they're protected with a dash of common sense, so that the rights of victims of crime are not thrown overboard. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen, though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Universe?

I assume entry was open to contestants from other solar systems then...

[Colonel Panic]

There's a special place in hell

... waiting for this torture-apologist eye-candy. Ye gods, she's the only one in Gitmo who actually deserves wiring up to the mains for some enhanced interrogation.

As for the Public Affairs low-life who dreamed this up, hell's too good for him. Or maybe he's a twisted genius who's ironically referencing Apocalypse Now, sticking two fingers up to his superiors while pretending he's doing his job.

Nah. He's probably a white-bread all-American redneck proud to be defending Truth, Justice and the American Way.

We do need military commissions. To try these fuckers for offences against good taste.

[Anonymous Coward]

Methinks you all protest too much

It's a prison camp for those who are not entitled to POW status, or a civilian trial, or indeed to ever be released. Compared to 99% of prisons in the world, it probably counts as a model facility, with the Red Cross in constant attendance.

If Guantánamo Bay is so bad, how should we define the GULAG, Belsen, North Korea, the Khmer Rouge? If shouting at prisoners and putting them in solitary confinement counts as "torture", what are we going to call hacking off people's arms and legs?

Oh hang on, we won't discuss them at all; it doesn't suit the "narrative". Of course, this will involve ignoring breaches of human rights elsewhere.....

[Anonymous Coward]

@Rupert Fiennes

And what, pray, happened to them *before* they fetched up at Gitmo? Does the phrase "extraordinary rendition" ring any bells?

[Grant]

GULAG, Belsen, North Korea, the Khmer Roug

Sorry, Rupert, but I spotted the Belsen reference; so your troll fail godwins law.

If the US really thinks, hey, at least we are better than the Russians with gulags, it's not really setting the bar for standards very high is it? Given that most of your references were historical and belong in the history book of shame... exactly where Guantanamo Bay is going.

In fact the US military do exchange in more than a little propaganda with Guantanamo by inviting guests (excluding investigative reporters of course) such as vacant beauty queens & country western singers to say how lovely it was. http://www.snopes.com/rumors/soapbox/charlie2.asp Note that he claims that they are all dangerous terrorists; shortly before the US let hundreds of them go; presumably because they weren't any threat at all.

[Dalen]

But...

Where's the Paris Hilton angle?

(I wonder why no one mentioned this before)

[Anonymous Coward]

Look what you are missing guys!

I mean, all the women in America look like these ladies, and they all walk around in swimsuits and stilettos too.

It's another form of torture!!!

[Loki]

@Rupert Fiennes

<Quote>If Guantánamo Bay is so bad, how should we define the GULAG, Belsen, North Korea, the Khmer Rouge? If shouting at prisoners and putting them in solitary confinement counts as "torture", what are we going to call hacking off people's arms and legs?</quote>

Two wrongs dont make a right. Didnt your mother ever teach you that?

[Chewy]

@Rupert Fiennes

Because some of us have a higher opinion of the US than the countries who torture on their own soil. Let us not forget that it was the US that argued the Nazis should be tried in a court of law, so Gitmo does that injustice.

[John Smith]

We had something rather similar in the UK

We had something rather similar in the UK

It was called detention without trial. It was carried out in Northern Ireland roughly 1970-1976. Various assorted interrogation methods were used in the same period by both the army and the NI police or RUC. IIRC most of them have turned up down Cuba way.

The MoD lessons learned report on "Operation Banner" stated that it was one of the biggest (if not the biggest) mistake made during the troops 38 year deployment. It politicised "A generation of young men" and provided a ready recruiting ground for both Loyalist and Republican sides. If they weren't terrorists when they went in a hell of a lot of them wanted to be when they were released.

I was told a long time ago to beware of simple solutions to complex problems. Locking people up without a trial sounds like a simple solution, but only to the simple minded.