"We've got Ramadan down," said Army Capt. Dan Byer.

There's a glimpse of an interrogation room—complete with a La-Z-Boy recliner and Persian-style rug. No interviews with detainees or interrogators are allowed. Contrary to allegations of torture, Leacock said that "rapport building" is the only interrogation technique "generally used" at the camp.

"I challenge any place in the world to have that much legal representation and visibility," Leacock said. "It's our effort to show we are doing the right things for the right reasons."

The sharpest criticism centers around the fact that many detainees are left in legal limbo as they mark years behind bars.

Bush has said he wants to try the detainees, and earlier this month he signed a law to establish rules for interrogating and trying suspected terrorists before military commissions. But the law is already being challenged, and some members of Congress who voted for it have questioned whether it is constitutional.

For now, military commissions are on hold, though camp officials said they hope to resume them early next year.

Meanwhile, a military review board examines detainee cases annually. In 2005, it decided to designate more than 100 detainees for release or transfer because it deemed they were no longer threats. Yet the men aren't allowed lawyers for the hearings, and only 1 in 5 agrees to appear before the board. Lawyers for the men said many consider them show trials.

Two attorneys said they were spurred to travel to the island recently by a sense of outrage over the indefinite detentions. They believe mistreatment has subsided, given the scrutiny. But they consider detention without deadlines a black mark against the United States.

"The overriding concern is the extreme loss of liberty, the isolation and the uncertainty," said Bernie Casey, a Vietnam War-era military lawyer who now works at the San Francisco office of law firm Reed Smith. "They're living their lives in a cell with the Quran and their prayers and no answers as to when they might ever leave.

"My concern is now we're down this path to at least incorporating some of the dark side into our treatment of detainees," Casey said, and "we are deprived of the standing to object should our people be similarly treated or worse."