Huckabee claims Gitmo is "too nice."

Well, the new GOP star in Iowa and New Hampshire, Mike Huckabee, has really put his foot in his mouth here. From CBS News:

DAVENPORT, IA - Asked about Guantanamo, Mike Huckabee said he had visited the facility and said it was “disappointing” that military personnel were eating meals that averaged $1.60 while the detainees were eating Halal meals that cost over $4 each.

“The inmates there were getting a whole lot better treatment than my prisoners in Arkansas. In fact, we left saying, ‘I hope our guys don’t see this. They’ll all want to be transferred to Guanatanmo. If anything, it’s too nice.”

Huckabee has said Guantanamo is more a “symbolic issue” than anything else since the detainees are treated better than prisoners in the US. Today Huckabee said, “Where they are detained is of less importance to me than that they are detained…until we know they are of no threat to us.”

So the prisoners at Gitmo are being treated better than the prisoners in the US? What the frack is Huckabee smoking? I found this Wikipedia entry on the Gitmo prison and the prisoner conditions:

Prisoners are held in small mesh-sided cells, and lights are kept on day and night. Detainees have rations similar to those of US forces, with consideration for Muslim dietary needs. However, many of the detainees have been denied access to the Koran for daily prayer, a Muslim tradition. Detainees are kept in isolation most of the day, are blindfolded when moving within the camp and forbidden to talk in groups of more than three. United States doctrine in dealing with prisoners of war states that isolation and silence are effective means in breaking down the will to resist interrogation. Red Cross inspectors and released detainees have alleged acts of torture[17] [18], including sleep deprivation, the use of so-called truth drugs[citation needed], beatings and locking in confined and cold cells. Human rights groups argue that indefinite detention constitutes torture.

The use of Guantánamo Bay as a military prison has drawn fire from human rights organizations and other critics, who cite reports that detainees have been tortured[19] or otherwise poorly treated. Supporters of the detention argue that trial review of detentions has never been afforded to prisoners of war, and that it is reasonable for enemy combatants to be detained until the cessation of hostilities. However, the detainees' status as potential or active terrorists, and the lack of any ratified treaties regarding treatment of captured terrorists, makes the situation particularly complicated.

I don't know what to say about Huckabee here. I know that he's trying to appeal to the hard-lined conservative base, but appealing for what? That he can be more hard-lined, sadistic, and mean? It doesn't make much sense.

Then again, there isn't much sense being made from any of the GOP candidates.