Flies everywhere. No decent showers. Latrines infested with insects. Contaminated food. And a living space the size of a minivan. Welcome to Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But that's not a description of the prison for 500 detainees in the war on terrorism. No, that's how our soldiers live while they guard Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners.

"Most of us thought we were prisoners ourselves,'' said Sgt. Richard Riestenberg of the Army Reserves, who just returned home from almost a year of baby-sitting terrorists.

"The U.S. troops' hands are just tied,'' he said. "The detainees pretty much ran the place.''

This is not what we hear from the International Red Cross and the ACLU lawyers who flocked to "Gitmo'' to protect and defend the detainees. They tell a story, amplified by the media, of harsh conditions, brutal punishment and oppression of religious liberties. As if the detainees were U.S. citizens, not terrorists trying to overthrow the U.S. Constitution they now hide behind.

"The media, being biased as it is, only tells one side of the story,'' said Sgt. Riestenberg, who also guarded detainees on flights to and from Afghanistan. "They had the best medical care in the world, three meals a day, great hygiene. What rights are being deprived?''

He said most Americans don't have a clue how the military bends over backward to make sure the detainees are treated right.

"Every cell had the distance and an arrow pointing to Mecca painted on the floor or a bunk,'' he said. "We're shelling out an ungodly amount of money on medical care, while the troops can't get an appointment with a doctor.''

The Harrison High School graduate returns to his job as manager of the Sharonville Bob Evans on Monday. He still has the close-cropped hair and far-away look of a soldier trying to readjust to soft beds, privacy and his own pickup. I asked him if he had any trouble with the Camp Delta inmates.

"They would throw urine and feces and spit on you and you couldn't do - - - -, or it would become some international incident,'' he said.

On one occasion, he was doused with something he hopes was water, after some of the detainees saw the tattoo on his chest: The twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Some conditions have improved, but morale was lousy, he said.

"The boredom and monotony is just tremendous down there.'' There's nothing to do. Just bugs, sweat, subtropical heat and more of it. "Cuba was like Groundhog Day. Every day was the same.''

He sat in on some interrogations and concluded, "I don't think the time there has rehabilitated them in any way. They just have a better understanding of how to back-door the system.''

It helps to remember that these are the same Taliban thugs who murdered children and terrorized Afghanistan; the same al-Qaida fanatics who might gladly blow up the White House.

"There are a lot of guys with bullet holes in them and missing fingers, and they say they are teachers,'' Sgt. Riestenberg said. "They're all told what they should say ahead of time. Personally, I think they are being treated too well. If you haven't seen it and lived it, well. ...''

I haven't seen anyone describe it this way, but what Sgt. Riestenberg and others like him have done is noble: We have put our most vicious enemies in a safe, comfortable place, with good food and free health care, to sit out the war.

The reason for all this is already forgotten by terrorist sympathizers. But Sgt. Riestenberg will remember. It's tattooed on his chest.

E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.