Posted on 01/12/2002 2:50:45 AM PST by Quilla
Bound, masked and surrounded by heavily armed U.S. Marines, 20 of the most dangerous al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners arrived for indefinite incarceration at this remote Caribbean naval base.
The prisoners' arrival Friday came four months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The prisoners face intense interrogation, especially concerning the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, accused by the United States of orchestrating the attacks.
"These are people who would gnaw through hydraulic lines in the back of a C-17 to bring it down," Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The prisoners -- all shackled and some wearing turquoise surgical masks after testing positive for tuberculosis -- were taken off the Air Force C-141 cargo plane about an hour after it touched down at 1:55 p.m. EST following an 8,000-mile journey.
They left Afghanistan aboard a C-17 but were transferred to a C-141 at an undisclosed stopover.
The first prisoner off the plane, who appeared to have a bandaged knee, limped as he walked to one of two waiting white school buses. Black vultures wheeled above on rising thermal updrafts in the blazing heat.
Several detainees appeared to struggle with the 50-plus Marines who led them to the buses. At least one prisoner was sedated on the trip to the base, and two were forced to their knees on the tarmac before being allowed to stand again and walk to the buses.
"These represent the worst elements of the al-Qaida and the Taliban," said Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of Joint Task Force 160 overseeing the operation. "We asked for the bad guys first."
Security was extraordinarily tight for the transfer, given recent history in Afghanistan when al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners launched bloody revolts against their captors.
In one prison rebellion, outside the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, a CIA agent died. As many as 450 al-Qaida and Taliban fighters were estimated to have died in the November uprising, which was suppressed after three days and with the help of U.S. bombs.
Rumsfeld dismissed complaints by some human rights groups that the heavy security violated the prisoners' rights.
Marine Maj. Steve Cox, a spokesman for Lehnert, said the "wobbly and disoriented" detainees complied with troops armed with machine guns and automatic assault rifles.
Journalists watching from about 300 yards away were not allowed to bring still or video cameras, with the Pentagon citing Geneva Convention bans "against insults and public curiosity."
The military, however, photographed the arrival.
The prisoners all were frisked and patted down, and many had their shoes removed. The school buses then were accompanied by a convoy of vehicles to a Navy ferry that took prisoners to the windward side of the base.
The prisoners will be isolated in temporary, individual cells with walls of chain-link fence and metal roofs, where they were to sleep on mats under halogen floodlights.
Thirteen detainees were processed Friday evening and placed in their cells. The others would be processed later in the night, officials said.
Lehnert said the prisoners' treatment would be "humane but not comfortable," and U.S. officials said the Red Cross and other groups will monitor conditions.
Cox said the prisoners would get three meals a day, two of them hot and all of them "culturally neutral" to conform to religious dietary restrictions.
The men will get two bath towels -- one for a prayer mat and the other for showering, a washcloth, toothpaste, toothbrush, soap and shampoo.
The prisoners will not get blankets or mosquito repellant, but the camp would be sprayed regularly, Cox said.
Amnesty International said the plan to house detainees in "cages" would "fall below minimum standards for humane treatment."
The size of the temporary cells -- 6 feet by 8 feet -- also is smaller than "that considered acceptable under U.S. standards for ordinary prisoners," the London-based group said.
The United States is reserving the right to try al-Qaida and Taliban captives on its own terms and is not calling them "prisoners of war," a designation that would invoke the Geneva Convention.
Some human rights activists are concerned that U.S. officials plan military tribunals and lowered standards of due process.
The arrival at Guantanamo Bay of the 20 leaves 361 prisoners at the base in Kandahar -- 30 more were brought there after Thursday's flight -- and 19 at the air base in Bagram, north of Kabul. One prisoner -- American John Walker Lindh, found fighting alongside the Taliban -- remained on the USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea.
The camp has room for 100 prisoners now and soon could house 220. A more permanent site under construction is expected to house up to 2,000.
The Guantanamo base is one of America's oldest overseas outposts. The U.S. military first seized Guantanamo Bay in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.
Sounds like RATS to me.
All right you maggots, get the hell off of my bus! What are you looking at? Are you trying to eye-f*** me boy?
Lol, memories of stepping off of a bus at MCRD.
Just checking.
Man, those pork n beans are going to hit the spot after all!!! No Cuban cigars, just American Patriot smokes.
The book is also available on tape. The link is to Amazon.com
The size of the temporary cells -- 6 feet by 8 feet -- also is smaller than "that considered acceptable under U.S. standards for ordinary prisoners," the London-based group said.
Oh Puh-Leeze !! these guys were living in holes scratched out in the dirt and rocks...this is a vacation resort for them !!
LOL...right on! I watched the live briefing from Camp X-Ray this morning on Fox. The commander of the detention center gave a press conference. It seemed like all of the reporters questions centered around how the detainees were being treated. I think they were fishing for any hint of "cruel and unusal" punishment so they could write about our "evil" treatment of prisoners. Kinda made me sick...
Like you said, these guys have it better off then they ever have - they're getting three squares a day and even a recreation period!
g
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