Cry from the cages of a jail beyond reach of the law

Cry from the cages of a jail beyond reach of the law
By MICHAEL McKENNA in Cuba
The Advertiser
May 3, 2003
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6374352%255E912,00.html

IT is late in the night, hours after the blistering sun has disappeared into the Caribbean and Camp Delta has come to life.

The eerie daytime silence of the 660 or so prisoners, captured in the Afghan war, has broken into a chilling chorus of dissent and religious devotion.

Under blinding floodlights and the watchful eye of sentries, perched in plywood towers, the world's most feared prison population seemingly finds its voice.

The iron grill walls of the cells, where most have been held for more than a year, are banged incessantly as the suspected terrorists yell and even scream to an accompaniment of lightning flashes typical of the tropics.

With the heavy machinery of ongoing construction quietened for the day, US military minders tell the media contingent, escorted near the mesh-covered perimeter fence, the racket is more about prayer than protest.

The minders say the Muslim call to prayer, recorded at Mecca and played over loudspeakers five times a day, was aired an hour earlier and detainees are merely "shouting passages of the Koran" to each other from their cells.

Whether the explanation is right or wrong, it comes across like another in the armoury of rehearsed lines employed by military personnel in the public relations battle being fought over the detention facility.

The detainees – they are never called prisoners – have remained in legal, political and geographical limbo since first being brought to the tent prison, later replaced by permanent cell blocks, in January of last year.

Among them are Australians David Hicks and Mambouh Habib – arrested in Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively – who were in the first group to arrive in Cuba.

Some are juveniles as young as 13 years of age, while others are described by Guantanamo medical staff as suffering from serious mental illness.

They are guarded by a corp of twenty-something reservists, plucked out of suburbia, who wear silver tape over their name tags for fear of future retribution back home by released detainees.

Emotion runs high, with pictures of the Twin Towers in the guard's communal rooms and the enlisted soldiers saluting with the bark "honour bound" that is met by the officer's response "defend freedom".

Against the backdrop of the naval base that became a symbol of the Cold War during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, a new war – on terrorism – is being waged by Americans from Guantanamo Bay.

The mantra of politician and soldier alike, is that the detainees are being held for the world's protection and to gather information on the terrorist networks through regular interrogation.

Human rights groups have described the conditions as appalling and challenged the legality of the prisoners' detention in US courts.

The US deems the prisoners, who come from 42 different countries, as "unlawful enemy combatants", and beyond the protection of the Geneva Convention.

All were captured in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, which dismantled the Taliban regime and dispersed the al-Qaida network in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Camp X-Ray, the makeshift tent prison where detainees were first held, has been replaced by Camp Delta. The new facility – made up of unit blocks with single open-air cages and a new dormitory unit that opened last month – has a sense of permanence that would give little hope to prisoners or human rights advocates.

Senior officers at Camp Delta say it has been built to operate for between five and 10 years and could eventually house 1000 detainees.

Only 23 mostly Pakistani prisoners have been released since January 2002 and speculation is that some paramilitaries and Fedayeen fighters captured in Iraq will be sent to Cuba.

Military officials will not discuss the identities of any of the detainees and questions about Hicks and Habib are met with a uniform "who?".

Guantanamo Bay base commander Major General Geoffrey Miller says the military is preparing for the long term.

"This is an extended war on terrorism and the information we are still gathering from these people enables us to make advances in that war everyday."

Maj Gen Miller said the process of interrogation was an arduous process and the assessment of detainees, for their possible release or prosecution, took time.

But the release of prisoners does not mean they are innocent.

"I am confident that every single detainee in Camp Delta is in his proper place," Maj Gen Miller said.

"They have all been involved in the war of terrorism in some fashion, obviously at different levels, but that's our job to go through the interrogation process to make recommendations and find the information."

Maj Gen Miller dismisses claims that "stress and duress" techniques are being used in the interrogation sessions.

"Those accusations are categorically incorrect, we use standard interrogation techniques approved by our military and we get better at them every day," he said.

Commandant Sgt Major John Vannatta, warden of Indiana's largest medium security prison when not in fatigues, says one of the tools to get information is food and accommodation privileges.

The prisoners are divided up into four security classifications – depending on their behaviour and cooperation.

Sgt Major Vannatta said an incentive system was set-up, ahead of the opening of "Camp 4", where 50 prisoners had been rewarded with dormitory accommodation, books and a communal eating and recreational area.

Camp 4 also serves as a half-way house before release.

Detainees in Camps 1 to 3 receive two hot and a cold vegetarian meal each day, with those in Camp 4 being fed a portion-and-a-half of "three hots", as well as desserts once a week.

All the hot meals are either vegetarian or fish, after the detainees refused to believe the beef and chicken on offer was Halal (prepared with the appropriate Islamic procedures).

Next month, meat will be back on the menu after detainees accepted a Halal certificate in Arabic from the wholesaler. Those not in Camp 4 live in open-air cells that measure 2m by 2.4m in blocks that house 48 people.

They are given a Koran and prayer mat and orient themselves to the Holy City of Mecca, in the east, by arrows embossed on the frames of their cots. In one corner there is a toilet, basically a hole in the floor, and along one wall a low sink, positioned so that it can also be used for ritual washing of the feet before prayer.

This is where detainees spend every hour, except to shower or kick a soccer ball around for a maximum of 20 minutes a day (depending on behaviour) in a small, enclosed exercise yard.

All detainees are shackled in irons when moved around the facility. The same conditions applied to juvenile detainees who, only recently, have been separated in Camp 4.

Officials say the detainees receive high-level medical care that, initially, focused on treating war wounds but has a strong emphasis on treating the mentally ill.

Captain Albert Simkus, the chief medical officer, said there were 85 cases of mental illness – ranging from mild depression to schizophrenia – and that most arrived already suffering their condition.

It is a claim disputed by some groups, who argue their captivity and uncertain fate are contributing factors.

All of the military, from soldiers to officers, disagree with claims the prisoners are being mistreated. Specialist Melissa Shepherd, 22, a 911 operator from Illinois, says the prisoners are respected "even though they don't always respect us".

Ms Shepherd says she has been spat on and her orders are often ignored by prisoners because they are raised in a culture that does not respect women.

"But I am a professional soldier, I guard them and treat them humanely despite what they have done," she says.

But not everyone in Camp Delta, like many in the outside world, seem wholly convinced of the detainees continued threat against the US.

Captain Youseff Yee, the Islamic chaplain who oversees detainees' religious needs, was asked whether he was treated with suspicion by the population (all of whom are Muslims) because he wears the US uniform.

"What you are saying is that because they are Muslim they are going to hate or have suspicions because I wear an American flag.

"How they came to be here I have no part, how they were captured, how they were bought and sold and how they came to Guantanamo Bay is before I got here. My role is to help people . . . and to tend to to their religious needs."

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