Greetings from Guantanamo Bay ... and the sickest souvenir shop in the world
By ANGELA LEVIN - More by this author »
Last updated at 00:06am on 4th May 2008
Mockery: A child's T-shirt proclaiming the camp a tourist spot
The sands are white, the sea laps gently and crowds of bronzed Americans laze in the Caribbean sunshine.
They have a cinema, a golf course and, naturally, a gift shop stocked with mugs, jaunty T-shirts and racks of postcards showing perfect sunsets and bright green iguanas.
Only the barbed wire decoration, a recurring motif, hints at anything wrong.
Welcome to "Taliban Towers" at Guantanamo Bay, the most ghoulishly distasteful tourist destination on the planet.
As these astonishing mementoes show, the US authorities are promoting the world's most notorious prison camp as a cheap hideaway for American sunseekers – a revelation that has drawn international anger and condemnation.
Just yards from the shelves of specially branded mugs and cuddly toys, nearly 300 "enemy combatants" lie sweltering in a waking nightmare.
It is six years since foreign prisoners, many captured in Afghanistan, were first taken to this US-occupied corner of Cuba. Yet even now, no charges have been brought against them.
While the detainees lie incarcerated, visitors can windsurf, take boat trips and go fishing for grouper, tuna, red snapper and swordfish.
The United States' 1.5million service personnel and Guantanamo's 3,000 construction workers are eligible to visit the "resort", which boasts a McDonald's, KFC and a bowling alley.
They even have a Wal-Mart supermarket.
each man thinks of his own fleas as gazelles
question authority
oh in that case am prtty sure snakey is a male, females+snakes= chaos+panic, u cn rearange that equation 2 ur likein
off topic, but snakelegs IS a sister in humanity...
Had the non-believer known of all the Mercy which is in the Hands of Allah, he would not lose hope of entering Paradise, and had the believer known of all the punishment which is present with Allah, he would not consider himself safe from the Hell-Fire http://www.muftimenk.co.za/Downloads.html
yup i am indeed a sister.
i just thought that this was in disgustingly poor taste. there is nothing humorous about guatanamo and it is an ugly stain on my country that will not go away.
each man thinks of his own fleas as gazelles
question authority
I think this article did a good job of confusing people, which is what it was intended to do. There is no attempt to turn Gitmo into a tourist destination. It was shirts designed by the people who live and work there as sort of an inside joke.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
^^Thats the problem. There is no joke about it. We aren't the confused ones. That's the problem nowadays. Everything is a joke unfortunately.
For those who live and work at Gitmo it is a joke. You don't live there and you don't work there, and you are coming at the issue from the standpoint of "evil America and their gulag in Cuba". These are simply workers and military personel who have to work there and designed these shirts as an inside joke. You may not get the joke...but quite frankly, you don't have to get the joke. They do.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
Way to put words in my mouth. I never said any of that, so perhaps you need to rethink your standpoint. Or perhaps lose the preconcieved notions. It's no joke when any human being is being mistreated for all these years. I highly doubt you would like it if I made souvenirs or an inside joke for any American victims that have died anywhere? This just proves how much humanity is left. No suffering of human life is a "joke." It's only a joke for people who don't give a crud.
Last edited by Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн; 05-06-2008 at 11:15 PM.
*Without Allah, without Islam, life would be meaningless. If I've ever learned patience, it's because of this. Alhamdulillah...*
Way to put words in my mouth. I never said any of that, so perhaps you need to rethink your standpoint. Or perhaps lose the preconcieved notions. It's no joke when any human being is being mistreated for all these years. I highly doubt you would like it if I made souvenirs or an inside joke for any American victims that have died anywhere? This just proves how much humanity is left. No suffering of human life is a "joke." It's only a joke for people who don't give a crud.
You just reinforced what you just stated was my preconcieved notions. These shirts aren't about "victims" or glorifying anything. They aren't meant to be political. As I stated earlier, they are in the same vein as "I survived Hurricane Katrina" shirts. I doubt many of the workers there, either civilian or military, actually want to be there. So for the sake of humor, they designed sarcastic shirts as a parody of their situation.
No tourists are coming...the Gitmo detainees still get three hots a day that dont contain un-Islamic ingredients...the Red Cross is still given access. Nothing has changed.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
Where did I reinforce anything I'm saying it's not a joke, your saying it is. The only joke I see out of it is that whats going on there is stupid and uncalled for. But either way, why would you make souvenirs? For what political purpose? Did you ask them? Imagine having a getaway over there near a cell full of people. That's really silly.
*Without Allah, without Islam, life would be meaningless. If I've ever learned patience, it's because of this. Alhamdulillah...*
Where did I reinforce anything I'm saying it's not a joke, your saying it is. The only joke I see out of it is that whats going on there is stupid and uncalled for. But either way, why would you make souvenirs? For what political purpose? Did you ask them? Imagine having a getaway over there near a cell full of people. That's really silly.
You are reinforcing what I said because you keep forcing politics into the equation, as I said you were. These shirts aren't meant to make a political statement. It isn't glorifying Gitmo or the Taliban. They are JOKE shirts designed for those who WORK and LIVE there and don't particularly like it. I'm sure the detainees don't like living there either...perhaps they could get the joke you don't seem to get.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
For those who live and work at Gitmo it is a joke. You don't live there and you don't work there, and you are coming at the issue from the standpoint of "evil America and their gulag in Cuba". These are simply workers and military personel who have to work there and designed these shirts as an inside joke. You may not get the joke...but quite frankly, you don't have to get the joke. They do.
Please tell me what you think could possibly be funny about the situation in Guantanamo, then?
You are reinforcing what I said because you keep forcing politics into the equation, as I said you were. These shirts aren't meant to make a political statement. It isn't glorifying Gitmo or the Taliban. They are JOKE shirts designed for those who WORK and LIVE there and don't particularly like it. I'm sure the detainees don't like living there either...perhaps they could get the joke you don't seem to get.
"Another praises "the proud protectors of freedom"."
Please tell me what you think could possibly be funny about the situation in Guantanamo, then?
It isn't funny! That is why the shirts were made in the first place! Haven't you ever heard of a sarcastic sense of humor?
Okay....I walked outside my house and as soon as I opened the door a giant elephant fell from the sky and landed on my house..leaving nothing but rubble. I have to live there anyway...so I walk down to the T-shirt printing store and create my own shirt. The graphic reads: "Welcome to the Keltoi Hilton"...showing a pile of rubble with a dead elephant on top of it. The exact same thought process is at play here with the Gitmo T-shirts. Is it literally funny to me that my house was destroyed(or that those in question work at Gitmo) NO! Its called a sarcastic sense of humor...or dark humor if you prefer.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
"Another praises "the proud protectors of freedom"."
Not a political statement?
I'm sure this gift shop has a vast array of shirts. Some are in the motif of the sarcastic shirts we have been talking about, and some are simply related to being part of the task force. Soldiers buy these things and either send them home or take them home. It is the exact same situation in South Korea, Germany, etc.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
It isn't funny! That is why the shirts were made in the first place! Haven't you ever heard of a sarcastic sense of humor?
Okay....I walked outside my house and as soon as I opened the door a giant elephant fell from the sky and landed on my house..leaving nothing but rubble. I have to live there anyway...so I walk down to the T-shirt printing store and create my own shirt. The graphic reads: "Welcome to the Keltoi Hilton"...showing a pile of rubble with a dead elephant on top of it. The exact same thought process is at play here with the Gitmo T-shirts. Is it literally funny to me that my house was destroyed(or that those in question work at Gitmo) NO! Its called a sarcastic sense of humor...or dark humor if you prefer.
Yeah, I suppose that is pretty funny. You're the victim, so it's your right to poke fun at your inconvenience. However, it wouldn't be so funny if I bulldozed your house and then started distributing T-Shirts, as a joke or otherwise. See the difference?
I don't really see how you can sweep this under the carpet, and just refer to it as 'dark humour'. It's clearly quite disgusting. People are being tortured, and they've treating the place like a holiday resort. Despite the fact that only millitary personnel are 'holidaying' there, does it make a difference? It's the attitude that needs to be addressed. And to put it crudely, their attitude stinks.
Yeah, I suppose that is pretty funny. You're the victim, so it's your right to poke fun at your inconvenience. However, it wouldn't be so funny if I bulldozed your house and then started distributing T-Shirts, as a joke or otherwise. See the difference?
I don't really see how you can sweep this under the carpet, and just refer to it as 'dark humour'. It's clearly quite disgusting. People are being tortured, and they've treating the place like a holiday resort. Despite the fact that only millitary personnel are 'holidaying' there, does it make a difference? It's the attitude that needs to be addressed. And to put it crudely, their attitude stinks.
What attitude? Most of the people that work there or are stationed there will never see a detainee. This gift shop is simply about the military experience. If you want to protest keeping detainees without charges..fine. However, whining over a military giftshop is bordering on ludicrous.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
Just because it's "military personnel" doing it, doesn't dismiss the fact that it's insanely stupid and pointless. Why would you even bother doing it. If it was an ordinary giftshop, it wouldn't have been a problem. But a joke or even a giftshop about anything like this is what you call "ludicrous." It's low and pathetic.
Last edited by Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн; 05-07-2008 at 01:04 AM.
Reason: spelling
*Without Allah, without Islam, life would be meaningless. If I've ever learned patience, it's because of this. Alhamdulillah...*
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No offense snakelegs xD
I'm saying it's not a joke, your saying it is. The only joke I see out of it is that whats going on there is stupid and uncalled for. But either way, why would you make souvenirs? For what political purpose? Did you ask them? Imagine having a getaway over there near a cell full of people. That's really silly.
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