First impressions of Guantanamo

As a cub reporter, I visited Tihar Jail on an assignment. It was the first jail I had ever been to and it left an impression. The infamous Guantanamo is nothing like that. Like most of America, it is open, airy and fastidiously clean. Unlike Tihar, where riots are known to break out over space, at Guantanamo, prisoners can have their cells all to themselves and can go without personal contact with anyone for 23 hours a day. This extreme isolation and the uncertainty of whether they will ever be charged or released, their lawyers say, are driving them insane, to the point to suicide.

Even after five years on mainland America, I am regularly struck by the absence of the consistent honking I am accustomed to from growing up in India. In Guantanamo, the first sensory impact was an even greater level of silence. There are no sounds of metal clanking or of steel doors slamming shut. Everything is mechanized. As we move through the higher security prisons we are constantly monitored, from the main tower. A button is pressed, somewhere, by some guard on a 12-hour shift and the door slides open. We step in and it automatically, quietly closes behind us. A few seconds later, the door in front of us opens up. We take another step forward and it closes behind us. We are finally inside. Unlike the images of prison popularized by Hollywood and Bollywood films, at Guantanamo there are no bars. Guantanamo, or GTMO as it is referred to in military slang is a mesh and concrete giant. Some one in our group wryly observes, "Well there's no doubt that America can build beautiful prisons."

Camp 5, a guard explains is built to withstand all natural calamities. Detainees here, like those in Dante's Inferno, are truly without hope. They are unlikely to be let out of their cells even in the face of an earthquake or typhoon as the building is built such that it never has to be evacuated.

Kellogg, Brown & Root, the construction arm of Vice President Dick Cheney's old company Halliburton, has the contracts for much of the building at Guantanamo. There is still construction underway, which is puzzling considering President Obama has ordered Guantanamo to be closed. But like in any army the world over, the guards at Guantanamo just follow orders. The construction which was sanctioned before the executive order was passed - it is going on irrespective. The guards, mostly 22-year-olds from small-town America pride themselves on their discipline. One gives us a tour of the "TV room" in a high security area, which consists of a dark blue sofa with comfy armrests and an old TV. Apart from the shackles on the floor this could be a living room anywhere. I ask when and why the cell was converted into a "TV room". I wonder if it was after the Obama administration took over. Perhaps it was after the realization that many of the detainees at Guantanamo aren't "the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth," that Donald Rumsfeld described them to be, but hapless victims of the panic that took over after 9/11. The guard has no clue. "I was ordered to turn this into a TV room and that's what I did" he admits with a laugh.

The US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay is one of the most unusual American military bases in the world. For starters, it's the only US military base in a communist country and this we are never allowed to forget. Every time an official mentions Cuba, it is preceded by the word "Communist". At night, the border with Cuba-known as the cactus curtain, a la Europe's Iron curtain-is clearly visible. In the moonlight, it looks ethereally pretty, an even line of blinking lights that encircles the base. In reality, this boundary is heavily fortified with mines and motion detectors, and monitored 24 hours a day. A handful of Cubans, though, do get in an out every day-legally. They are employed at the camp.

The United States has no diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba. Completely isolated, and on grounds where it is not wanted, Guantanamo is forced to be self reliant, and produces it's own water and electricity. Guantanamo is on a permanent lease to the US from Cuba. The rent is about $4,000 dollars a year, comparable to a loft apartment in Soho in the pre-recession days. However, after coming to power in 1959, Cuban ruler Fidel Castro has refused to cash America's checks, which are reportedly accumulating in a drawer.

It takes a long time to get to anywhere in Guantanamo. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour. One also has to watch out for Iguanas. There is a $10,000 fine for killing one. Unlike the US judicial code and international human rights norms, the Endangered Species Act does apply in Guantanamo. The lizards are irritable and surprisingly fast. My attempts to get a photograph with one were rebutted with a cocking of the head, which I am told they do when they are angry. I back off .The much more huggable, life-sized replicas at the stuffed toys section of the lone souvenir store on the base are in high demand.

The joke is that no cars are stolen because there is no way to get a car off the base. And its probably a good thing that Harold and Kumar spent as little time as they did on the Island, because there is no White Castle, although you can get a burger at Cuba's only McDonalds. We choose to grab dinner at 'The Jerk House', where after a long day of filming we stuffed ourselves with spicy Jamaican Jerk chicken and juicy corn. There are two open-air theatres on the base that play a movie, every night, for free.  These are the latest films, released simultaneously in GTMO and mainland America. I catch a glimpse of the chiseled Chris Pine playing Captain Kirk as we drive by and could not help thinking how surreal this camp is. Perhaps as more incentive for its troops to enjoy their 10-month deployment on the island even alcohol is allowed on the base. A pack of beer will set you back in just 5 dollars.

For those that love the outdoors, not much additional incentive is needed. Swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving are possible all year long, and the crystal-clear waters of the bay are supposed to house among the best reefs in the world. Most soldiers make sure to get their scuba certification during their tour of GTMO. Moreover, having served on this "frontline" base is prestigious, as Jack Nicholson explained so inimitably in A Few Good Men ("I eat breakfast 300 yards away from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill me).

Some of the members of the Task Force running the camp admitted that, although the experience is a little isolating, having the stamp of GTMO on their resume could be very advantageous in the Military world. For both the inmates and their keepers the mark of Guantanamo stays for life.