Truth for one is an untruth for another
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.
Camp X-Ray was set up there post-September 11 to detain captives from the war in Afghanistan.`
A year and some months after the end of that war, however, the prisoners remain and no one seems to know the prisoners least of all whether they were supposed to be detained only until hostilities ended or some stability was restored to Afghanistan or until one of them coughed up the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.
Their indefinite detention not to mention their reclassification by the Americans as "illegal combatants" which fudges their status and rights under the Geneva Convention has addled human rights groups for over a year.
Imagine their consternation when it slipped out this week that among the hotchpotch of alleged terrorists, militants, fundamentalists and used car salesmen (actually he was released last month one of just 21 people to have been let go since the detentions began) were a number of children.
The Americans have admitted to holding three and, while there was initially some reluctance to put precise ages on them, it now appears they range from 13 to 15 years.
Of course anything with a gun/ grenade/bottle/brick and a good aim is a scary and potentially lethal prospect, regardless of age, but under international law and numerous conventions and treaties on the rights of children and the position of child soldiers, anyone under 18 is indeed a child and should be afforded special protection.
Human Rights Watch is horrified, Amnesty International apoplectic and the more the US defends the situation, citing the need to hold the youngsters until "they're no longer of intelligence value", the more condemnation it attracts. But then controversy has been washing over Guantanamo Bay since it first appeared on a map.
The bay is located on the southeastern end of Cuba. That's right an American naval base in a country which is a sworn enemy of America. An American naval base in a communist state.
How it got there begins with Christopher Columbus, who claimed to be the first westerner to lay eyes on the bay during his second voyage to the Americas in 1494. He was looking for gold, however, and all the region had to offer was salt and molasses so he swiftly moved on to richer pickings.
Later arrivals were more appreciative of the bay's value, recognising in its wide mouth and gently narrowing, undulating interior the perfect natural harbour. Weary sailing ships could shelter in peace there from the wild West Indies hurricanes and opportunistic pirates could hide out and pounce on passing cargo.
Spain claimed the entire island of Cuba for itself, developing Guantanamo Bay as an important strategic point,
especially for keeping an eye on the British with whom something of a trading rivalry was building up.
In 1741, the British invaded the bay, occupying it for four months before a variety of tropical diseases put paid to plans to march westwards towards what is now the Cuban capital, Havana.
So the British withdrew and the Spanish remained in control until the late 1890s when the Cubans began to rebel against their colonial masters.
The US at this time disliked the Spaniards, claimed concern about the Cubans and wanted revenge for the mysterious sinking of the Maine off the Cuban coast (fingers have occasionally pointed at one Randolph William Hearst, newspaper magnate and source of the infamous "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war" quote).
So two boatloads of US marines were sent to Guantanamo Bay to link up with the Cuban insurgents, the Spanish were driven out and, in 1903, the US signed a deal with Cuba for the perpetual lease of the bay to be used as a "coaling and naval station" at a fee of $2,000 per year.
Two world wars and the Cuban Missile Crisis made sure the bay never lost its naval duties, whatever about the coal supply.
More recently, the base has been used primarily for training purposes although in 1994, Bill Clinton's declaration that Cubans wanting to leave the country and asylum seekers from nearby Haiti (which had just suffered a military coup) could apply for asylum on American territory (his predecessor George Bush Snr had simply sent 'em packing) resulted in 54,000 men, women and children arriving in fishing boats, all seeking to have their applications processed.
After that little hiccup, Gitmo got back to being a training centre and home to 3,000 members of the military and 4,000 spouses, children and support staff.
As military bases go, assignment to Guantanamo isn't exactly hardship. Year-round sunshine, spectacular diving, superb sports facilities, golfing, indoor and outdoor movie theatres, good schools, a fine hospital and a McDonald's make it a rather pleasant posting.
Of course, you are confined to a claustrophobic 45 square miles of territory, the outer edges of which are lined with miles of metal fencing and thick with layers of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines as the odd drunken marine, clumsy Cuban and unfortunate iguana (they grow to five feet long in the area) has found out to their cost.
The latest arrivals from Afghanistan haven't got anywhere near the outer reaches. They spend much of their time in cells two metres by two metres,
enduring lengthy interrogation, deprived of legal consultation or diplomatic representation and subjected to occasional disorienting sensory deprivation in hoods and gloves.
Humanitarian organisations say the situation makes a nonsense of US claims to be restoring human rights to the likes of Afghanistan and Iraq but the Americans argue their captives are getting five-star treatment with good food and medical care, protection from physical cruelty and freedom to practice their religion while the shorter ones are also getting mental health care and reading and writing lessons.
So is it truer to say that the US is dismantling or preserving human rights in Guantanamo Bay? Where's Tom Cruise when you need him?
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