HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ----- Original Message -----
From: Walter
Lippmann
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 12:08 PM
Subject: [CubaNews] Terrorists' arrival doesn't faze
Cubans "Talibanishment" really more and more
accurately describes what Washington is doing to its uncharged prisoners of war. Please take the time to read the vicious glee with which those involved describe the conditions they are planning for the capitive who are being transported these thousands of miles from their homeland. ---------------------------------------- Consider these two paragraphs alone: ---------------------------------------- Officials here describe the temporary facilities constructed at this remote seaside installation as cells, but the units appear more cage-like: 6-by-8-foot rectangles with concrete-slab floors, simple roofs and sides of chain-link fencing that, officials admit, will probably let the rain in. "I would call it a cell . . . an outdoor cell for a detainee," said Col. Terry L. Carrico, who will supervise security at Camp X-Ray. ---------------------------------------------------- Have no doubt that the people of Cuba are fully aware of what the United States is doing with these prisoners, as Vanessa Bauz�'s article documents well. Rather than clutter your e-mailboxes with these items separately, I'm posting them all in one malodorous bunch. However you should read them carefully. Were it not for the legacy of past fights for democratic rights, for legal rights, and for prisoners' rights in the United States, the conditions which these men from Afghanistan will receive, are what Washington would like to see in the US were it able to impose them! Well worth sharing with and explaining to others. (And this is NOT to suggest that the conditions in US jails are anything to sing praises about, by the way!!) ====================================== Terrorists' arrival doesn't faze Cubans By Vanessa Bauz� Havana Bureau January 11, 2002 Guantanamo, Cuba� Despite years of mistrust and tension across the heavily mined perimeter that divides an American military installation from Communist territory, a top Cuban general said he was "confident that the current tranquillity on the border" will not be disrupted by today's expected arrival of Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay. In a rare interview, Gen. Jos� Solar Hern�ndez, second in command of the Cuban army's eastern troops, said Cuba had not beefed up its elite Frontier Brigade in anticipation of the prisoners' arrival. "We haven't taken any additional measures," Solar Hern�ndez said on Thursday. "We hope the Americans will take a number of high security measures. On our side we have taken all the measures already to resolve whatever contingency may occur." Cuba considers the U.S. Naval Station on the island's southeastern tip occupied territory and has long demanded the military leave. But under a 1934 treaty, both sides need to agree that the United States will leave. In protest, President Fidel Castro refuses to cash the rent checks, $4,085 annually, preferring to keep them as "historic documents," Solar Hern�ndez said. Despite their demands for the base's return, Cuban officials have been uncharacteristically diplomatic about the arrival of what could eventually be thousands of Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners. "The Americans are using this territory to resolve a problem. We don't think this is anything against our country, it is not an aggression," Solar Hern�ndez said. Though Cuban and U.S. military officials speak occasionally by telephone to resolve minor border problems, Solar Hern�ndez said there had been little communication on the prisoners. "You are probably more informed on the Afghan prisoners than we are," he said. In a brief tour of the Cuban-controlled border area, Solar Hern�ndez led a group of journalists to the only access gate into the northeast corner of the U.S. base. Because U.S. officials are not allowed off the base, the gate is only used by 10 Cubans who started working there before the 1959 Cuban Revolution, when relations between the countries were friendly. Here the no-man's land narrows to the width of a chain link fence, topped with concertina wire. On one, Cuban soldiers keep guard under the sign "Republic of Cuba -- free territory of the Americas." Beyond the fence a few yards away, beyond a high fence, U.S. soldiers occupy their own watchtower, painted in camouflage except for a U.S. flag. The Marines' logo, an anchor and their slogan, Semper Fi, decorate the grassy hill below. A Navy helicopter swept over the base, and three Marines in an armored car came to the border to hoist the U.S. flag. About 20 miles down the perimeter at the Los Malones lookout, Solar Hern�ndez pointed out the tents and barracks on the eastern edge of the 45-square-mile base where tens of thousands of Cuban and Haitian rafters were held in 1994 and 1995. He said about 40 U.S. military planes have arrived at the base in the past week, and U.S. troops have been observed converting the barracks that once held the migrants into maximum security cells to hold the prisoners. Although would-be Cuban defectors have occasionally tried to run across the mined perimeter or swim into the base, Solar Hern�ndez said the border areas had been peaceful since 1995, when U.S. and Cuban officials signed migration accords. However, the Cuban government claims there have been 5,236 acts of aggression between 1959 and 1989, including rifle fire and rock throwing. Solar Hern�ndez said he considered the base a "Cold War relic," similar to the economic embargo. "In 2003 the base will have occupied Cuban territory for one century," Solar Hern�ndez said. "It is our demand that it be returned peacefully to our country. It is here against our will." Vanessa Bauza can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright � 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel ========================================= U.S. Takes Hooded, Shackled Detainees to Cuba By Steve Vogel Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, January 11, 2002; Page A10 With hoods over their heads and shackles on their arms and feet, 20 al Qaeda and Taliban detainees were flown out of Afghanistan on a U.S. military aircraft yesterday, the first of hundreds of prisoners from the war expected to be sent to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for interrogation and possible trial. The U.S. Marine base at the Kandahar airport was hit by small arms fire around the time the Air Force C-17 cargo plane carrying the detainees took off at about 9 p.m. local time (11 a.m. EST). Marines returned fire, and no one was injured, officials said. Pentagon officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that a large contingent of military police -- outnumbering the prisoners two to one -- was on the flight armed with stun guns and authorized to sedate any prisoners, if necessary. The detainees were to be chained to their seats for the entire flight, they said. "After September 11th, a little paranoia is a good thing," said Steve Lucas, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, which oversees the base at Guantanamo Bay. Concerned about the possibility of attack, defense officials declined to disclose many details of the detainees' movement, which will include a stop at a military base in Europe for a transfer to an Air Force C-141 before continuing to Cuba. The detainees are expected to arrive in Cuba today. "If our intelligence is correct, there are people with suicidal-murderous intentions still at large," Lucas said. "I don't want them to know when that aircraft will be passing through Caribbean airspace." The 20 prisoners, whose identities have not been made public, are among 371 al Qaeda and Taliban detainees in U.S. custody who are expected to be brought to Guantanamo Bay, where they will be housed in rudimentary cells being built at the base. John Walker, an American captured in November while fighting for the Taliban, remains aboard the USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command said last night. At Guantanamo Bay yesterday, troops were making final preparations for the arrival of the prisoners. "Obviously, as they get closer, it's getting a little more intense," said Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for the task force responsible for the detainees. In Pakistan, across Afghanistan's eastern border, meanwhile, recovery efforts continued at the site of the crash of a KC-130 Hercules plane that killed seven Marines on Wednesday. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said there were no indications that hostile fire was involved in the crash, which occurred on a mountain near an airfield at Shamsi, in southwestern Pakistan. "They have no evidence that it was anything other than a crash into that ridge line," Rumsfeld said. The tanker plane was carrying bladders of fuel at the time of the accident, contributing to the total destruction of the aircraft. Rescue teams have reported that only the plane's tail section is visible, a defense official said. "The fireball occurred, according to the best evidence we have, as it hit the ground, not before it hit the ground," Rumsfeld said. Army mortuary workers have been sent to the site, and teams are still working to recover the bodies, officials said. The Central Command, which is overseeing the Afghan war, said the plane carrying the detainees had taken off from Kandahar about 10 to 15 minutes before the gunfire erupted and was not threatened. "It did not have to take any evasive action, and at no time was the plane in danger," said Marine Maj. Brad Lowell, a command spokesman. According to witnesses and an Army spokesman at the Kandahar base, however, the gunfire appeared to have begun as the plane was taxiing for takeoff. Military spokesmen said it was not known if the attack was related to the movement of the detainees. "The Marines on the ground are characterizing it as probing fire," Lowell said. Amnesty International issued a statement yesterday objecting to the prisoners' treatment. In a letter sent to Rumsfeld earlier this week, Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan said "the hooding of suspects in detention generally may constitute cruel treatment." The organization also said that sedating prisoners for other than medical purposes would be a breach of international standards. Pentagon officials ordered several news organizations not to transmit pictures of the hooded detainees being moved onto the plane, citing concern that such images may be violations of the dignity of the prisoners under international laws governing the treatment of prisoners. The news organizations agreed not to transmit the images until military officials give them permission. A defense official said the detainees held aboard Navy ships in the Arabian Sea are frequently hooded and shackled, particularly when they are moved. Victoria Clarke, the Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters that the prisoners are being "treated humanely in accordance with the Geneva Convention," which sets out the rights and responsibilities of war prisoners and their guards. The first flight is being viewed by the Pentagon as a trial run for the transfer of the remainder of the detainees in U.S. custody to Cuba. If things go well, the number of detainees will be increased to 30 per flight, a defense official said. Some of the detainees are expected to face military tribunals, officials said. Rumsfeld indicated yesterday that some of the detainees are being held to see if more information arises that would implicate them. "After you've gone through that first interrogation, it's best to wait a bit and see what other kinds of information comes up from other people, from computers, from various other types of intelligence gathering," Rumsfeld said. "You might arrest somebody with pocket litter that connects that person to one of the people you're interrogating." Staff writer Sue Anne Pressley at Guantanamo Bay and correspondent Karl Vick in Kandahar contributed to this report. � 2002 The Washington Post Company ========================================= Published Friday, January 11, 2002 in the Miami Herald Base prepares for arrival of prisoners BY CAROL ROSENBERG [EMAIL PROTECTED] GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Marines and Army Military Police drilled on how to transfer prisoners of the al Qaeda and Taliban movements to this Caribbean outpost Thursday as U.S troops in Afghanistan moved out the first batch of hooded and chained prisoners. ``Obviously this is a unique situation, a historic situation . . . obviously, as they get closer it's getting a little more intense,'' reported Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello, chief spokesman for the operations at this base known as ``Gitmo.'' As he spoke, military police who had hastily built up a prison camp of 100 cage-like cells made of chain-link fences rehearsed ``the route of march'' to move potentially dangerous prisoners from the airstrip, expected as soon as today. ``The one thing about security is, it is never enough,'' the colonel said, still withholding the exact arrival time and number of prisoners expected in the first batch for a POW-style camp that could swell to 2,000. ``There's always something else you can do, another sandbag that can be filled.'' U.S. military planners are mindful of the prison camp uprisings that took place in Afghanistan, staged by rebelling Taliban prisoners under the control of the Northern Alliance. In some instances, they managed to seize their captors' weapons and in one case killed a CIA man inside an Afghan prison. DIFFICULT TRANSFER So the transfer, amid a news image blackout, is expected to be a delicate maneuver. Unless a large helicopter is produced, the prisoners will need to take a ferry that links the single airstrip servicing Guantanamo to the base where they will be housed in cages. It is the usual route of transportation for anyone arriving at this isolated outpost that is reachable only by U.S. military-approved aircraft or sea vessel. Even before any prisoners arrived, security around the transfer mission was tight Thursday. CNN footage from Kandahar showed a group of about 20 prisoners shuffling to an airplane -- in chains with hoods over their heads, images that drew protest from Amnesty International. Reports suggested the detainees would be chained to their seats, perhaps sedated and forced to use portable urinals to assure no mid-air violence. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declined direct comment on the transfer technique, saying troops had been authorized to use ``appropriate restraints'' and noting that other groups of al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners had killed their guards in at least two instances in the war. `FULLY AWARE' ``They're fully aware that these are dangerous individuals,'' Rumsfeld said of U.S. troops, at a Pentagon press conference. Thursday's images, and the tricky transfer, apparently are of concern to U.S. officials. A BLACKOUT Military escorts hustled all but a pool of U.S. reporters off the base Thursday afternoon, and imposed a blackout on photographing the transfer operation. Reporters were told they might be allowed to see the detention center, perhaps once the prisoners are inside. But no photos would be permitted, at least until military lawyers ruled on the definition of a Geneva Convention prohibition against ``displaying prisoners.'' The Pentagon considers these captives not to be prisoners of war under Convention terms. Military escorts also declared a blackout on details of the transfer, once it is accomplished, and the exact location of the camp. In Miami, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Southern Command, Steve Lucas, defended the extraordinary measures this way: ``These suicidally murderous people have compatriots at large. We don't want to provide them any information that could make a big terrorist splash.'' ========================================== U.S. begins transferring hooded, chained war prisoners to Cuba By PAULINE JELINEK Associated Press January 10, 2002, 12:49 PM EST WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military on Thursday began moving hooded and chained prisoners from the war in Afghanistan to a jail in Cuba. Taliban and al-Qaida detainees were taken from prisons to Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan for movement to Guantanamo, Cuba, officials said. Later, a group of some 20 from among more than 300 in U.S. custody were shown on CNN shuffling to an airplane at the airport. The trans-Atlantic move presents an unprecedented security challenge. Prisoners were to be chained to their seats _ and possibly be sedated, forced to use portable urinals and be fed by their guards _ during the flights from Afghanistan to newly constructed jail cells in Guantanamo, according to newspaper and television reports. Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke wouldn't comment on the reports except to say detainees were being treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention rules on prisoners. Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes struck again early Thursday Afghan time at the huge cave, tunnel and building complex used as an al-Qaida training camp in eastern Afghanistan. American-led forces for several days have been detonating ordnance found there and hitting the compound itself, saying intelligence indicated it was recently occupied by al-Qaida fighters preparing to escape the country into Pakistan. As for the prisoners, Clarke told a Thursday press briefing that she was trying to determine what details of the transfer would be released, saying officials would not be talking about schedules or other things that would breach security, but would simply announce when the detainees had reached Guantanamo. But it was clear their transfer was imminent when prisoners were consolidated _ that is brought from other locations to Kandahar. Eight were brought from the Navy's USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea and a number from the U.S. detention centers in Bagram and Mazar-e-Sharif, military officials said. ``This thing is being done ... with the most expertise that we can bring to bear on it,'' said spokesman Steve Lucas at the U.S. Southern Command, the Miami-based command that is helping coordinate the move. ``These suicidally murderous people have compatriots at large,'' said Lucas. ``We don't want to provide them any information that could make a big terrorist splash.'' In two separate deadly incidents, prisoners got hold of weapons and staged an uprising while held in a fortress in northern Afghanistan, while others killed Pakistani guards after being apprehended trying to escape into that country. American troops have held the prisoners in much greater security since taking custody of them. ``Nothing like this to my knowledge has been done before (considering) the level of threat and probably the size and distance too,'' Lucas said of the imminent transfer. ``I'm not sure that anyone has every handled detainees of this type and transferred them 20 hours or whatever it is _ around the world.'' The regrouping of prisoners overnight Wednesday Washington time brought the number in Kandahar to 351, said Lt. Col. Martin Compton at the U.S. Central Command's war command center in Tampa, Fla. A total of 371 are in U.S. custody, with 19 remaining in Bagram, one on the Bataan and none in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, he said. Preliminary plans were to take them from Kandahar on C-17s to a base in Europe where they could be transferred to C-140 cargo planes for the remainder of the trip to Cuba. Those in U.S. custody have been selected from among thousands captured by Afghan fighters as they took one city after another from the former Taliban rulers who had been harboring Osama bin Laden and is al-Qaida terrorists. ``These people vowed to win their way into paradise by murdering anybody in American uniform, or for that matter, any civilians,'' Lucas said in reference to the terrorists' radical Islamic beliefs. ``The level of threat is probably unique.'' Copyright � 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel ===================================== Preparing For Role In War On Terror Navy Base in Cuba To House Taliban, Al Qaeda Detainees By Sue Anne Pressley Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 10, 2002; Page A12 U.S. NAVAL BASE, GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 9 -- Camp X-Ray looks like a set for some grim prisoner-of-war movie. Police dogs roam the grounds, bristly rolls of concertina wire top the fences, military police watch from a wooden guard stand. An American flag waves over it all. This is where the first two dozen al Qaeda and Taliban detainees will be temporarily housed when they arrive here from Afghanistan, probably by the end of the week. Officials here describe the temporary facilities constructed at this remote seaside installation as cells, but the units appear more cage-like: 6-by-8-foot rectangles with concrete-slab floors, simple roofs and sides of chain-link fencing that, officials admit, will probably let the rain in. "I would call it a cell . . . an outdoor cell for a detainee," said Col. Terry L. Carrico, who will supervise security at Camp X-Ray. Here at Guantanamo, or "Gitmo," as the base is known here, a wholesale transformation is taking place as the U.S. military hurries to prepare for the arrival of prisoners whom officials have termed "the worst of the worst" and "a nasty bunch of guys." Although the base was used to house more than 40,000 Haitian and Cuban migrants during the mid-1990s -- with the most difficult held at the isolated Camp X-Ray -- it had fallen quiet in recent years, serving primarily as a fueling station for military ships and aircraft. Now, however, it is geared up to play a significant international role in the ongoing conflict against terrorism, with a darker mission this time. Guantanamo will hold not people who wanted to come to the United States in search of a better life, but some who allegedly set out to destroy America and others who were willing to kill and die for their cause. That knowledge has made security of paramount concern. "Our job here is to take these terrorists out of the fight by locking them up," said Brig. Gen. Michael R. Lehnert, the commander of Joint Task Force 160, the hundreds of sailors, soldiers and Marines brought together less than a week ago to oversee the incarceration of people Lehnert calls "enemy prisoners of war." "We have no intention of making it comfortable for them. We'll make it humane," he said. The United States has not recognized the captives as prisoners of war, nor has it charged any with criminal activity. As "battlefield detainees," they are allowed limited rights under the Geneva Conventions, including the right to practice their religion. But they are not allowed legal representation during interrogation and can be charged with war crimes. Senior defense officials have said some will probably face military tribunals, but many will be sent back to their home countries. The changes at Guantanamo were shown today to a group of 20 U.S. news reporters and photographers who were flown to the oldest U.S. military base overseas -- it dates to 1903 -- and the only one in a communist country. Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has sharply condemned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has not raised objections to the use of Guantanamo as a detention center that could eventually house as many as 2,000 prisoners. The United States is holding 368 former fighters in Afghanistan and on a ship off the coast of Pakistan. Many of them may end up here. "I'm prepared to hold them for a long time," Lehnert said. He said he has not been instructed to make arrangements for military tribunals for the prisoners. Capt. Robert A. Buehn Jr., the base commander, said Guantanamo was chosen because of its isolation, a 17-mile perimeter of fencing and natural features that inhibit escape: mangrove swamps, heavy brush and the surrounding waters of the Caribbean. It lies along the southeast coast of Cuba, in the least-populated part of the country. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in announcing the location for the detention center, called Guantanamo "the least worst choice." "We're working on that T-shirt," Buehn said today with a grin. In the past four days, about 660 military personnel have arrived at Guantanamo to work for the task force, joining the nearly 3,000 people, including about 700 in the military, who live and work on the base. Construction is continuing furiously on permanent cellblocks for the new arrivals at a location called "Radio Range." Lehnert said it will take 45 to 60 days to build the first in a series of "camps" that will house 400 to 500 people each. Military police also are training for their new duties. At Camp X-Ray today, a group practiced one-on-one security, with one soldier shoving another against the chain-link fence as he handcuffed the mock prisoner. After completing their exercises, the group trotted away, chanting: "Pick up your weapon and follow me. I am an MP." The soldiers would not discuss specifics of special training they have received except to say they feel well-prepared and will not let their emotions about the terrorist attacks interfere with their jobs. All are well aware of the potential dangers ahead; some cited the recent deadly prison uprising involving Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. "We've done training on how to handle the detainees, and I feel confident about that," said Army Spec. Richard Ypina, 25, of Buckeye, Ariz. "I understand September 11th was a tragic moment. But our role here doesn't play off what happened September 11th. Our mission is to safeguard the detainees, and that's what we're going to do." Staff Sgt. Rocknee Gardner also said the security staff at Camp X-Ray -- which will include female soldiers guarding the members of a movement that once hid women from public view -- will not react to anti-American or other slurs they might receive from the detainees. "We are all military police, and we deal with that kind of thing on a daily basis," said Gardner, 31, of Warner Robins, Ga. "Nobody's ever happy to see us. It won't be the first time we've been insulted." The lush landscape has already given rise to jokes about detention in the Caribbean, on its face a less than harsh confinement. But Lehnert insists none of them will likely enjoy their time here, despite perfect blue skies, 80-degree weather, balmy winds and the sight of the surrounding green hills. "I will assure you . . . you will not want to be an occupant," he said. ========================================================================
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