They Must Have Something to Hide

The Bush administration is continuing to refuse the International Committee of the Red Cross complete access to detainees in U.S. custody:

The United States said Friday that it would continue to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to "a very small, limited number" of prisoners who are held in secret around the world, saying they are terrorists being kept incommunicado for reasons of national security and are not guaranteed any rights under the Geneva Conventions.

What does "a very small, limited number" mean? How many? And why should anyone believe it's a "very small, limited number" when the Bush administration has lied about literally everything connected with foreign policy since 9/11? And if this "very small, limited number" of prisoners can't be seen or talked to by international relief workers because they are "terrorists," then what are the rest of the estimated 14,500 persons who are still in U.S. prison facilities? If they are not terrorists, then what are they doing in prison? What "national security" reasons could there possibly be for refusing to let the Red Cross visit detainees to make sure they are being treated humanely? Unless they are not being treated humanely, and the Bush administration thinks that if the Red Cross found that out, it would breach national security because it would make the Arab and Muslim world angry at us. (Like they aren't already.)