The New York Times and Washington's new prison in Afghanistan

Military officials told the press they were concerned about the health effects on US troops stationed at the current Bagram facility, which is heavily contaminated with toxic heavy metals. They are unwilling to turn dangerous detainees over to the Afghan puppet government, however, and are planning on building a new prison, under direct US control.

The Times described the existing Bagram prison as overcrowded, with inadequate restroom and exercise facilities, and acknowledged that American guards had beaten several detainees to death there. Comparing conditions there to those at Guantánamo Bay, the US-run concentration camp in Cuba which has become notorious for its torture and arbitrary punishment of detainees, it reported: Military personnel who know both Bagram and Guantánamo describe the Afghan site [...] as far more Spartan. Bagram prisoners have fewer privileges, less ability to contest their detention and no access to lawyers.

Starting with these horrible facts, the Times then took on a grotesquely Orwellian task: presenting the construction of the new prison as an exercise in humanitarianism.

Citing US military officials who told the Times the new prison would be would be more modern and humane, it continued: Classrooms will be built for vocational training and religious discussion, and there will be more space for recreation and family visits, officials said. [...] The structures will have more natural light, and each will have its own recreation area.

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