New arrivals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp look up from their chained wrists and ankles as the official greeting crackles over the loudspeakers:

"Welcome to the American gulag.

"You have been declared 'unlawful enemy combatants' by President Bush. As such — and with the full consent of the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress — you can be imprisoned indefinitely. Until death.

"Your interrogations will begin almost immediately. Remain standing. You may be subject to harsh 'alternative' tactics by CIA personnel or U.S. military. Again, each of these tactics has been fully approved by Congress. (No whining. You could be in one of the CIA's secret, foreign jails. No picnic, those.)

"Rest assured that no interrogation measures will constitute 'grave breaches' of the Geneva Conventions' ban on 'outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.' Of course, the main judge of what's an outrage is our president, who — thanks to Congress — is empowered to 'interpret the meaning and application' of the conventions.

"Most of you will never face trial. Just look around at the hundreds of men locked up here for nearly five years. You can call this a 'black hole' and a 'twilight-zone existence' if it makes you feel better, but it won't make any difference in your fate.

"Listen, don't ever forget that some of you are really bad, bad guys who have plotted or executed harm on American citizens. No sympathy for you. Others of you, of course, may not be. You may have been swept up in the chaos of war, or been the victim of mistaken identity or informers with agendas. That's a tough break for you, but it's really too much trouble for us to sort it out.

"Periodically, you will be brought before a Combat Status Review Tribunal, where a perfunctory recitation of the charges against you will be read, and which you will have no meaningful means of refuting. Your counsel is warned not to refer to these reviews as 'show trials.'

"Whatever happens here, there is almost no recourse to the U.S. courts — despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that enemy combatants have such a right. As to what you may have heard about the great writ of habeas corpus on unlawful detention stretching back 900 years to the Magna Carta, well, that's inoperative here.

"Those few of you who are brought to trial before our military commissions will face evidence that may come from hearsay statements, or even coerced testimony produced by torture. If our prosecutors refuse to disclose evidence that would reveal state secrets, they may withdraw charges. Don't imagine you'll go free, however. You may still be detained for as long as we deem fit.

"During your imprisonment, your contact with the outside world will be minimal. But should you be granted any calls or messages, the National Security Agency will be listening. Until now, its sweep of international communications may have been an illegal, warrantless fishing expedition. But soon it will have congressional approval.

"Another warning: Under the vastly expanded definition of 'enemy combatants' — again, Congress' doing — there is a good chance you will be joined by many more detainees. Again, we're not going to be too particular about whether they really belong here. So welcome them kindly.

"Those are the rules. For now, this is the American way — at least until the American people wake up and decide they're appalled by the way their nation's human-rights ideals and its Constitution have been trampled underfoot by post-9/11 panic.

"Have a nice day."