Celebrity visits to Gitmo OK; Flap over beauty queens; USO visit didn't violate detainees' rights, U.S. military says.Byline: Carol Rosenberg; McClatchy Newspapers GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE “Gitmo” redirects here. For other uses, see Gitmo (disambiguation). For other titular locales, see . Guantánamo Bay Naval Base at the southeastern end of Cuba has been used by the United States Navy for more than a century, and is the oldest overseas U.S. , Cuba -- The commander of Guantanamo's prison camps said Thursday he would continue to approve celebrity visits despite a controversy over a visit last month by Miss Universe and Miss USA Not to be confused with Miss America. The Miss USA pageant is a beauty contest that has been held every year since 1952, with winners competing in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operates both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA. . "They were on tour to say 'hello and thank you' to the guard force," said Navy Rear Adm. David Thomas Jr., sweeping aside a claim that letting celebrities see war-on-terrorism detainees violated Geneva Convention Geneva Convention Declaration of Geneva Global village A standard established in 1864 regarding the conduct of the military towards medical personnel, and obligations of medical personnel during acts of war. protections. The USO USO: see United Service Organizations. (UNIX Software Operation) AT&T's Unix division before it turned into USL. See Unix. , the group that sent comedian Bob Hope to Vietnam, sponsored the visit March 21-24 by Crystle Stewart Crystle Stewart is a beauty queen from Houston, Texas who will compete in the Miss USA pageant in 2008. Stewart won the Miss Texas USA 2008 title in a state pageant held in Laredo, Texas on July 1 2007, after competing against 121 other contestants. , 27, Miss USA, and Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza Dayana Sabrina Mendoza Moncada (born June 8, 1986 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a model and the newly crowned Miss Venezuela 2007. Mendoza modeled in Italy for Versace and Roberto Cavalli and speaks Spanish, English and Italian. , 22, a model from Venezuela, who posted a glowing description of the remote Caribbean outpost on her Web site. "The water in Guantanamo Bay Noun 1. Guantanamo Bay - an inlet of the Caribbean Sea; a United States naval station was established on the bay in 1903 bay, embayment - an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf is soooo beautiful!" gushed Mendoza, who was crowned Miss Universe 2008 in Vietnam. She also made passing mention of meeting military dogs and her visit to the prison camps, "the jails, where they shower, how they recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books," she said. "It was very interesting." Guantanamo guards said the beauty queens were dressed conservatively and drew no particular attention from detainees when they stood at the same place where journalists watch captives living in a communal-style compound called Camp 4. A provision of the Third Geneva Conventions The Third Geneva Convention (or GCIII) of 1949, one of the Geneva Conventions, is a treaty agreement that primarily concerns the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs), and also touched on other topics. It replaced the Geneva Convention (1929). forbids the parade of POWs for "public curiosity," a rule the Pentagon has interpreted to mean news photographers can take only pictures that blur the identities of the captives. Thomas noted "the press sees the same stuff" in its visits to the camps as did Mendoza and Stewart. Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, a defense lawyer whose client, a Sudanese captive, lives in Camp 4, said U.S. reporters have a First Amendment right to visit the place. "What exactly was she reporting on?" said Lachelier, referring to Mendoza's blog posting. "The suntan she got in Guantanamo?" Thomas said he approved the beauty queens' visit because USO-approved celebrity visits are "a very big morale boost to these hardworking men and women ... in this isolated duty station." CAPTION(S): Tiffany Addair / McClatchy Newspapers : Miss USA, Crystle Stewart, left, and Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza, of Venezuela, autograph photos for guards and other troopers who work at Guantanamo's prison camps last month. (0408335701) Copyright (c) 2009 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved. |
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