The physical aspect of one detainment facility reminded him of the Stanislaus County Jail. Another, Cardoza said Tuesday, reminded him of the Merced County Jail.
The resemblance ends there.
Joined by a conservative U.S. senator and four members of the European Parliament, Cardoza on Monday zipped through the military detention facilities that have incited worldwide controversy. A member of the House International Relations Committee, Cardoza said he was impressed even if lingering legal questions remain unanswered.
"I was fully prepared to be critical," Cardoza said, "but I have different observations than I thought I probably would have."
Cardoza and his traveling colleagues, including Republican Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah, did not talk to any of the roughly 465 alleged enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay. They did see them from afar, though. Bennett said only the detainees' lawyers, and the International Red Cross, are permitted to talk to the men, who were seized in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nor did the visiting lawmakers talk, before or after, with any of the lawyers who have been representing the detainees who claim mistreatment. Some 450 lawyers are now working pro-bono on various Guantanamo Bay cases, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights.
The joint congressional- European Parliament trip itself occurred just a few days after the United Nations' 10-member Committee Against Torture recommended that the United States close the Guantanamo Bay facility. Britain's attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, has likewise called in recent days for the facility to close.
Still, Cardoza and Bennett said they saw an entirely professional operation that costs about $94 million a year and is overseen by an impressive U.S. Navy admiral.
"The troops are well-trained," Cardoza said. "The medical care is, frankly, equal to what you would see in a community hospital, without the six-hour wait, that you would get in my hometown."
Bennett approvingly cited the availability of soccer fields and volleyball courts, a well-stocked library whose most popular offering is reportedly the Harry Potter series, and an abundance of what he characterized as delicious food.
"The prisoners showed up malnourished," Bennett said, "and now the problem is one of obesity."
Cardoza essentially aligned himself with Bennett's glowing assessment, although he posed questions about the facility's long-term future. The Bush administration's decision to hold the alleged enemy combatants for indefinite terms leaves the detainees in a limbo that traditional prisoners of war do not face.
"The war on terror," Cardoza noted, "may never be over."
That's underscoring the points now being made in court by four British men, who were detained at Guantanamo Bay for over two years without any charges being filed. The men are seeking $10 million in damages for the mistreatment they say they suffered at U.S. hands.
