Guantanamo Bay is looking for seminar instructors to teach terrorist detainees, among other things, how to paint with watercolors, and use Microsoft Word and Powerpoint.
The terrorist detention facility has issued a for “Detainee Library and Seminar Services,” which was updated on May 28.
The solicitation calls for a new contractor to provide “intellectual stimulation” to the captured terrorists, through seminars that cover everything from Arabic calligraphy to Adobe Photoshop.
“The objective of stated services is to provide routine Library services and Detainee Seminars, such as Literacy, Nutrition, Horticulture, Science and Art Programs, as well as Life Skills programs to the JDG detainee population (166 detainees),” states the submitted by the Joint Task Force at Guantanamo Bay.
The Work Statement outlines the requirements for each seminar category. The “Art seminar” reads as follows:
“The contractor shall develop, implement and teach an Art seminar. At a minimum, the Art seminar shall include water color painting, charcoal sketching, Arabic calligraphy, acrylic painting and pastel painting. Additional topics may be added with the [Contracting Officer Representative] COR written approval.”
Other seminars include:
- “Life Skills” seminar where detainees will be taught Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Publisher and Adobe Photoshop. Prisoners will be taught according to basic, intermediate or advanced level.
- “Nutrition seminar,” will include “principles of nutrition, and scientific foundations of exercise and fitness.”
- The “Horticulture seminar” will teach Horticulture 1 and 2, basic landscape plants and landscape pruning practices.
- Literacy seminars in English, Arabic and Pashtu to “provide intellectual stimulation for the detainee population,” and “equip detainees with the proficiency to understand simple instructions in English and respond appropriately.”
Guantanamo Bay is home to 166 terrorist trainers, financiers, bomb makers, Osama Bin Laden bodyguards, recruiters and facilitators. Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is one of the many dangerous Islamic extremists being held at the facility.
As CNSNews.com previously reported, Guantanamo Bay already offers classes in “Interviewing and Resume Writing,” “Writing Success,” and “Personal Finance.” The prison is now looking to expand its educational offerings to include year-round seminars.
The seminars will be provided between 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, to authorized detainees. They will last between 60 and 90 minutes long. The maximum class size will be about 20 inmates per seminar.
The seminar instructors who secure the contract will work with the restrained prisoners directly, always with guards present.
The solicitation was originally posted on March 5, 2013, but has gone through a series of updates, most recently on May 28. A response deadline is listed as June 7, 2013, but it is unclear when the contract will be awarded.
The jobs for leading the seminars, however, will not be open to women.
“Due to cultural and religious considerations, seminars shall be given by a male instructor,” the Work Statement reads. “The seminar instructor(s) shall be fluent in Arabic and/or Pashtu, as well as English.”
Inquiries to the Joint Task Force at GTMO were not returned by publication of this story.