The Government has provided a rare update on the Guantanamo detainees. Of course they are trying to put the best possible spin on it, but we're having a hard time buying into some of their statements.

The Government has been offering "rewards" to the prisoners. If the prisoners want to "eventually" return to their native countries, they are told they should be good and earn the rewards. The rewards range from a soccer ball to an extra blanket to "an extra serving of rice and lentils for the feast of Eid-al-Adha, a Muslim holiday."

The Government says there are 650 detainees from 41 countries at Guantanamo Bay in single-man cells. Over 58% have received one of the 23 available rewards. Only 6% have cooperated with the Government. Yet a Government spokesman says, "We believe the rewards and penalties program has helped us increase the amount and quality of the information."

The Government refuses to answer questions about the rash of suicide attempts by the detainees. Five of them tried to hang themselves in the last month. One is still hospitalized in serious condition. (He was probably one of the two of the 650 who have been allowed to phone home.)

Amnesty International asks a good question. Is it only rewards being handed out, or is the lack of cooperation being punished by more than withholding of rewards? Is the "rewards system" connected to the suicide attempts? The Government's answer is this: "Military officials say penalties amount to an absence of rewards."

If in over a year, only six percent of the 650 detainees have cooperated, and no criminal charges have been brought against any of them, despite forced interrogations of all of them without counsel, why can't they go home now? How much is it costing us to continue to house them? At what point does the government admit they are not Al Qaeda terrorists and have no relevant information to share?