Truth for one is an untruth for another

WHEN Jack Nicholson’s irascible commanding officer lost the head with Tom Cruise’s persistent lawyer character in A Few Good Men, he roared across an echoing courtroom: “You can’t handle the truth,” and a legendary cinematic one-liner was born.

The words of the fictional Colonel Jessup may have been prophetic for it would seem that at Guantanamo Bay, where the movie about dubious and deadly military honour codes was set, they can't handle the harsh truth but they sure know how to manhandle it.

Guantanamo, or GTMO as the sprawling naval base is abbreviated in military documents, or Gitmo as those who serve there affectionately know it, is less dotingly known to over 600 prisoners of war as a barbed wire kingdom from which there is no escape.