Bread and roses

The U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo holds hundreds of men who are not terrorists or enemy combatants. Many of those are even recognized as innocent by our government, but for one reason or another, continue to be held.

I've been following the story of the camp so closely since it opened, and read so many horrifying accounts, that by now the impact has dulled. But this story, by a lawyer for one of these men, reduced me to tears:

...[Saddiq] lives behind razor wire in Camp Iguana, with eight other men whom the military cleared long ago but who are nevertheless forbidden newspapers, visits from loved ones, English-language dictionaries -- and flowers.

For some time we lawyers have been asking the military for a garden. Gardens are commonplace in prisoner-of-war camps, and these men aren't even enemies. They live in a pen, but it has a small patch of ground. Why not? The military refused.

You can probably guess the rest of the story, particularly if you are a gardener, but do read it. Saddiq is beginning his fifth year as a prisoner.