In an effort to prove that the goings-on at Guantanamo Bay are really out in the open, the Bush Administration invited reporters down to Cuba for a friendly visit, and maybe some good cigars.

CNN took the bait, thrilled to learn that news from Guantanamo wasn’t being censored after all.

Their footage was promptly censored.

Taking up U.S. President George Bush’s challenge for reporters to visit the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba, CNN did, but its video was censored.

In response to allegations of prisoner abuse at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, Bush made the challenge in June, and again Wednesday while in Denmark

However, a CNN crew that toured the facility was not allowed to see the worst-behaved inmates, who are kept in a block behind a mesh fence.

The prison holds about 520 prisoners from 44 countries, most of them captured during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

CNN employees were not allowed to speak to the prisoners, and military censors demanded the crew erase video footage they said would allow viewers to identify a prisoner.

In the hospital wing, one prisoner shouted in English, We take the torture in here, but it was not possible to talk to the prisoner about his allegation, the network said.

From a UPI (!) wire report, reprinted at WebIndia.