Huh?

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE (Reuters) - Guantanamo prisoners are no longer forced to undergo interrogation, including 14 “high-value” prisoners who include the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks, the detention camp commander said. . . . .

President George W. Bush signed a law last month permitting aggressive interrogations, under complex rules that rights groups said could allow techniques that border on torture.

But Rear Adm. Harry Harris, who commands the detention camp, told visiting journalists this week that interrogations had been optional since midsummer because coercion was ineffective.

“We don’t make them talk. In fact, we don’t make them go to interrogations,” Harris said. “If you make a detainee go to interrogation, then that already is going to create an environment of potential noncooperation.”

So, these guys are just allowed to sit around in their cells and enjoy their complimentary health care, Korans, prayer mats and rich meals?  That certainly flies in the face of the Democrats who have compared Guantanamo Bay to Stalin’s gulags (among other things), but for those of us concerned about national security it certainly doesn’t paint a pretty picture.  Because it seems to me that, if given a choice, hardened terrorists aren’t going to choose to undergo interrogation.

But that’s just me, and I’m not an interrogation expert.