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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002 8:56 AM
Subject: [CubaNews] Tribunals would be models for future terrorist trials

Just look at the difference between Washington's approach
to its Taliban prisoners and Cuba's responsible, modulated,
and humane approach. What more can one really say???

============================================
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld called the prisoners
"unlawful combatants," distinguishing them from prisoners of
war. "Unlawful combatants do not have any rights under the
Geneva Convention," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "We have indicated
that we do plan to, for the most part, treat them in a
manner that is reasonably consistent with the Geneva
Conventions, to the extent they are appropriate."

and

Each man is confined to one cell, a mat on a concrete block
floor, and gets a bucket in which to relieve himself. The
camp warden said MPs would lead them, one by one, to
latrines as need be, and conceded that when it rains, some
will get wet.

and they'll get "granola and Froot Loops"! Gee, I wonder if
the company providing the Froot Loops will be able to get
some advertising photograhs out of this???
=============================================

Tribunals would be models for future terrorist trials
By Tim Collie
Sun-Sentinel

January 11, 2002

It has all the makings of a summer action movie: a group of
men suspected of being global terrorists, hooded, heavily
shackled and hauled halfway around the world under heavy
guard to a military prison on a Caribbean island.

But the legal terrain on which they land will be every bit
as novel as their new home at the U.S. Naval Station at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the first 20 prisoners arrived
on Friday.

What could result is a new kind of law for a new kind of
war.

Accused of belonging to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network,
al-Qaida, or of being members of the Taliban, the prisoners
arriving at the highly fortified island base will begin an
unprecedented legal process, experts say. For the first time
in its history, the United States will hold and prosecute by
military tribunal stateless members of a secret organization
in an undeclared war.

"These aren't soldiers of a country like the Japanese or
Germans were, and there's no declaration of war," said H.
Wayne Elliott, a retired Army lieutenant colonel whose
writings on war-crimes trials are being used by those
developing the tribunal rules.

"In U.S. history, they're more like the Barbary pirates - a
group that wasn't really linked to a country but threatened
American interests.

"But this is what military tribunals are for - it's a
specialized court for a specialized type of offense for a
specialized group of people," Elliott said. "And these are
certainly a very specialized group of people."

As many as 2,000 detainees from the war in Afghanistan
eventually may be held at Guantanamo, where a detention
center is being quickly erected by more than 1,000 U.S.
troops deployed last week. Almost 450 suspects are already
in U.S. custody, most of them in Kandahar.

Questions abound

The government hasn't decided where, when or how these men
will be tried. But on Friday, the first 20 prisoners linked
to al-Qaida and the Taliban arrived at the new tropical
prison surrounded by chain-link fences and razor wire
instead of walls. They will wait there, a site chosen
because it is isolated and hard to reach, while the United
States decides where and how to try them.

Experts in military law said the tribunals probably will
resemble courts-martial that try American soldiers on
military law violations. That means tribunals likely will
require proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, a
unanimous vote by jurors on death sentences and an appeals
process.

But other questions remain to be hashed out. What's the
legal status of the detainees? Are they prisoners of war,
granted certain protections under the laws of war, or
something else? Will the tribunals be secret? Will they
allow hearsay evidence or confessions collected under
torture?

The tribunals could be held at Guantanamo Bay, which has
been leased from the Cuban government since 1903 and is not
on U.S. soil. Holding the proceedings there would prevent
the prisoners from challenging their detention in U.S.
federal court, but it's close enough to ensure good security
and easy access for attorneys based in the United States.

"The legal thinking here is that it's more difficult for
someone to challenge the decision if the trial is held
outside of U.S. jurisdiction," said Timothy Edgar, legal
counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "But the
Constitution should follow the flag. You can't simply avoid
basic constitutional protections by shifting a trial to
Cuba." Edgar and others also fear that some al-Qaida members
could be held at Guantanamo indefinitely. Many, perhaps
most, might not even face military tribunals, U.S. officials
have suggested. They could be used merely as intelligence
sources.

But their native countries may no longer want them, and
transferring them to prisons on U.S. soil may not be an
option. That could leave the United States holding them
without trial for years as authorities have done with some
illegal immigrants. "In the old style of war if you
designated someone a prisoner of war, you could hold them
until the war was over," Edgar said. "But I don't think we
can just hold these men for years or decades until someone
declares the war on terrorism over."

Since Nov. 13, when President Bush issued an order
authorizing the tribunals, liberals as well as conservatives
have raised concerns about the prospect of secret trials
without the right of appeal.

The rules of the tribunals have not been established, but
the very word "tribunal" suggests a legally distinct body
that is very different from a court-martial. Tribunals are
special military courts used during wartime to determine
whether an enemy agent is guilty of a war crime. If the
defendant is found guilty, the tribunal then decides the
punishment.

Secrecy allows for the protection of vital intelligence
during wartime, and provides swift reprisals to the enemy.
The only tribunal on U.S. soil in the past century occurred
in 1942. A tribunal secretly convicted eight German
saboteurs who were caught after coming ashore in New York
and Florida. Six were executed two weeks after the verdict.
The remaining two received long sentences.

But this trial, along with the war-crimes trials in Germany
and Japan following World War II, occurred before the 1949
Geneva Convention established requirements for the treatment
of prisoners of war.

"What has caused some of the controversy is the use of the
term 'secret military tribunals,'" said Elliott. "It sounds
like it's going to be the Spanish Inquisition. Most of the
military tribunals in history have been open trials. The
news media have been there with their lights and cameras.
They were in Germany and Japan after World War II. In fact,
these proceedings are far less secretive than a juvenile
court proceeding."

"If they have a conspiracy case - and I expect they'll have
some - then you might see secrecy there," said Elliott.
"There is precedent for that, and the reason is that they're
not going to want to compromise intelligence sources and
methods."

Elliott, a former Army Judge Advocate General Corps member,
the military equivalent of a lawyer, thinks the tribunals
will rely heavily on the military justice system's rules.
Courts-martial have the same rules of evidence and standards
of proof as civilian courts with one important exception: a
single panel functions as both judge and jury and may
question individual witnesses.

The panel is generally made up of military officers, but can
include civilians appointed by military authorities.

Otherwise, the trials, which experts assume will be public
proceedings, should follow procedures familiar to a
TV-watching public immersed in the O.J. Simpson trial, Court
TV and Judge Wapner. Defendants would be presumed innocent,
and guilt would have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

A guilty verdict would likely require the two-thirds vote of
the military officers who make up a tribunal, but several
experts predicted a unanimous vote will be required to
impose the death penalty, just as it is in civilian criminal
courts.

Defendants likely will have the right to appeal any verdict.
They also can have a military lawyer appointed at government
expense. In civilian courts, defendants must be indigent to
obtain free counsel.

Another key distinction would be the absence of the
"exclusionary rule," which prevents tainted evidence from
being introduced in civilian courts. Military tribunals
would be able to consider hearsay evidence and evidence
gathered without a warrant, such as papers seized during
battles. Even before the trial, there may be legal wrangling
over whether the prisoners are "prisoners of war." The
distinction will be important, because POWs must be accorded
protections outlined in the Geneva Convention on Prisoners
of War.

Those protections "in effect, guarantee a POW the same
procedural and evidentiary rights as one of our soldiers in
a court-martial," said Evan Wallach, a military justice
expert and judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade,
New York.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said they will not be
handled as prisoners of war because they are "unlawful
combatants," not POWs.

"Technically, unlawful combatants do not have any rights
under the Geneva convention. We have indicated that we do
plan to, for the most part, treat them in a manner that is
reasonably consistent with the Geneva conventions to the
extent they are appropriate," Rumsfeld said.

U.S. courts have granted POW status to domestic
revolutionary groups in the past. A 1988 federal court
ruling determined that members of a group called the Black
Liberation Army, who considered themselves revolutionary,
should have received the minimum standards for POWs while
being held in detention.

Dedicated to terror

But international law also provides guidelines for what
constitutes a military group, such as whether they are
responsible to a commanding authority, have a recognized
insignia and carry arms openly. Armed resistance groups like
those fighting the Israelis or Colombians are covered by
these protections if they meet the criteria outlined in the
Geneva Convention.

"But is al-Qaida a military group with recognizable
soldiers? I don't think so," said Ruth Wedgewood, a
professor of international law and diplomacy at Johns
Hopkins University and a former federal prosecutor.
"Al-Qaida defines itself as a group solely to make jihad, to
make war and to use terrorism to do it. It doesn't have a
recognizable charitable function like Hamas or Hezbollah, it
doesn't have recognizable insignias.

"The material being collected in places like Afghanistan,
these terrorism manuals, describe a group bent on terror, on
what I think can be considered war crimes," she said.

Tim Collie can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or
954-356-4573.
Copyright � 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

===================================

Al-Qaida prisoners arrive in Cuba
a.. Rumsfeld: 1 prisoner sedated during flight
a.. Prisoners to be isolated in temporary cells
By Tony Winton
Associated Press Writer

January 11, 2002

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL STATION, Cuba -- Shackled and
surrounded by Marines, the first 20 prisoners from
Afghanistan -- the most dangerous of the al-Qaida and
Taliban captives -- arrived today at this remote U.S.
military outpost on Cuba.

The prisoners face intense interrogation, especially about
the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden whom the United States
holds responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New
York and the Pentagon.

"These represent the worst elements of the al-Qaida and the
Taliban," said Marine Brig. Gen. Mike Lehnert, commander of
Joint Task Force 160, which is overseeing the operation. "We
asked for the bad guys first."

The prisoners -- all shackled and wearing turquoise
facemasks -- were taken off the Air Force C-141 cargo plane
about an hour after it touched down at 1:55 p.m. EST
following the 8,000-mile journey.

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.

Several of the 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.

Some of the detaines continued resisting the troops -- armed
with machine guns and automatic assault rifles -- as they
were put on the buses.

"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 Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon
press conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

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.

Rumsfeld dismissed complaints by some human rights groups
that the heavy security represented a violation of the
prisoners' rights.

"It simply isn't," Rumsfeld said. "When prisoners are being
moved between locations they're frequently restrained in
some way, with handcuffs or some sort of restraints. That is
not new."

The international human rights group Amnesty International
expressed concern, saying 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.

Reporters, who watched the arrival about 300 yards distant,
said they heard shouting from the tarmac. Journalists were
not allowed to bring still or video cameras. The military,
however, photographed the arrival.

Authorities gave no reason for barring news organizations
from recording the arrival, but the Geneva Convention says
prisoners of war must be protected "against insults and
public curiosity."

The prisoners were all frisked, patted down, many of them
had their shoes removed. After all of the prisoners were put
onto two white school buses, a convoy of vehicles
accompanying the buses left for a Navy ferry to take the
prisoners to the windward side of the base.

A U.S. Navy patrol boat stood off shore of the
cactus-studded portion of the island. Black vultures wheeled
above the base on rising thermal updrafts in the 88 degree
heat.

Security was extraordinarily tight for the prisoner transfer
given recent history in Afghanistan when al-Qaida and
Taliban prisoners have risen up against their captors
several times in bloody revolts.

In one of them, outside the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif,
a CIA agent died, and officials were taking no chances with
the move to Guantanamo. As many as 450 al-Qaida and Taliban
fighters were estimated to have died in the November
uprising that was put down after three days and with the
help of U.S. bombing.

The prisoners left the Marine base at Kandahar airport in
Afghanistan wearing shackles and hoods.

At Guantanamo, the detainees were to be photographed and
fingerprinted, Navy spokesman Lt. Bill Salvin said.

At their detention camp, known as Camp X-ray, the prisoners
were to 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. The camp is
surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers.

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 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. Rumsfeld said the prisoners would be
considered "unlawful combatants."

Some human rights activists are concerned that U.S.
officials plan military tribunals and lowered standards of
due process.

POW status would guarantee any captive facing trial a
court-martial, forcing prosecutors to meet tough standards.

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.

The name of the detainees' camp, Camp X-ray, dates from the
1990s, when tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants
were held at the base, said spokesman Chief Petty Officer
Richard Evans. The name's origin is unclear, though other
camps also were given call-sign names such as Alpha, Beta
and Charlie, he said.

Copyright � 2002, The Associated Press

=====================================

THE NEW YORK TIMES
January 12, 2002

First 'Unlawful Combatants' Seized in Afghanistan Arrive at
U.S. Base in Cuba

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 - Twenty prisoners from the war in
Afghanistan arrived in Cuba today, emerging from their Air
Force cargo plane in orange prison jumpsuits and face masks,
some of them shackled at the legs and all of them manacled.
One had been sedated, Pentagon officials said.

According to reports from a Pentagon pool of reporters at
the United States Naval station at Guant�namo Bay, the
prisoners were escorted under heavy military guard and met
by a swarm of marines in helmets with masks, some carrying
riot shields and all armed with rifles. Some of the
prisoners resisted their captors and were pushed to their
knees on the tarmac before rising and being taken to
individual wire cages.

This first batch of prisoners was considered so dangerous
and so bent on destruction that Gen. Richard B. Myers,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they "would gnaw
hydraulic lines in the back of a C-17 to bring it down."

They arrived at Guant�namo at 1:50 this afternoon, having
left Afghanistan 27 hours earlier. As their plane left the
airport at Kandahar, which is occupied by American forces,
soldiers on the perimeter of the base came under fire from a
small number of unknown assailants.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld called the prisoners
"unlawful combatants," distinguishing them from prisoners of
war. "Unlawful combatants do not have any rights under the
Geneva Convention," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "We have indicated
that we do plan to, for the most part, treat them in a
manner that is reasonably consistent with the Geneva
Conventions, to the extent they are appropriate."

In concrete terms, he and General Myers said they would be
receiving "culturally appropriate food," would be allowed to
practice their religion and that a news media pool could not
take their pictures.

Jamie Fellner, of Human Rights Watch, said that unlawful
combatants were not entitled to any rights under the Geneva
rules but that under international humanitarian laws, every
captured fighter was to be treated humanely and that her
group did not consider the wire cages humane.

Mr. Rumsfeld implied that there was nothing special about
these prisoners - "I don't even know their names" - and
suggested that they had been sent to Cuba simply to make way
for more prisoners being captured in Kandahar. "We just have
to keep the flow going, and that's what's taking place," he
said. The United States is now holding 445 prisoners in the
region, including John Walker Lindh, the 20-year-old
Californian, who is on an American ship.

American military officials at the Kandahar Airport base
said today that 8 to 14 snipers had attacked the outskirts
of the airport on Thursday night, engaging in a firefight
with marines for up to 40 minutes.

Marine officials said the attack did not seem related to the
flight, which had been kept secret.

The incident began at 8:04 P.M. when flares were fired
toward the runway from a grassy area north of the airport,
as the loaded C-17 was waiting on the runway, officials
said. At 8:22, the airplane took off.

At 8:30 the snipers began firing with AK-47's and machine
guns, said Capt. Dan Greenwood, the operation officer for
Battalion Landing Team 3-6, who led the marines' response.

At one point, the snipers and marines were only about 300
yards apart, Captain Greenwood said.

One marine involved in the incident, Chad Metzger, 23, of
Detroit, said he fired 180 rounds of ammunition in the
incident. "I counted them out this morning," he said.

Mr. Rumsfeld asserted today that the interrogation of
hundreds of Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners in Afghanistan -
as well as documents, videotapes and computer hard drives
seized from safe houses and command posts - had provided a
bounty of useful information about terrorist activity around
the world.

He said, for example, that investigators had learned from
prisoners that two senior Taliban leaders whom he declined
to name were probably killed by American bombs in December
or earlier. That would bring the total number of senior
Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders captured or killed to about 15,
senior Pentagon officials said.

Mr. Rumsfeld also said that the Pakistani government had
broached the possibility of having the United States remove
some of its military equipment at air bases in Pakistan to
free up those airfields for Pakistani forces, if they move
to a more intensive war footing.

Pakistani military officers confirmed that Pakistan had told
the United States that in the event of conflict with India,
it would need to make use of two of the four air bases it
had made available to the United States for the war in
Afghanistan.

Senior Pentagon officials said that the United States was
already planning on moving some of its equipment into
Kyrgyzstan as well as Afghanistan, where American forces
have improved airfields at Kandahar, Bagram and
Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Pentagon has been using the bases in Pakistan for cargo
planes, search and rescue aircraft and Special Operation
forces aircraft moving in and out of Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials have told the Americans that they could
require use of two of those bases - in Jacobabad, north of
Karachi, and in Pasni, on the coast to the west of Karachi.
The Americans could continue using the bases but would have
to share them with Pakistani aircraft, officials said.

Two other bases in the western desert, at Dalbandin and
Shamsi, which have been used for refueling and for special
operations, are expected to remain solely for the use of the
American coalition, the Pakistani officers said.

Pakistan has also told the United States that in the event
of war with India, most of the 61,600 Pakistani troops now
devoted to sealing the border with Afghanistan, searching
for Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and protecting bases would
have to be withdrawn.

          Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
=============================================

Published Saturday, January 12, 2002
in the Miami Herald

More Taliban, al Qaeda members coming
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

U.S. NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba -- One by one,
manacled and masked, the first 20 of up to perhaps 2,000 Taliban
and al Qaeda prisoners arrived in this sweltering U.S. military
outpost on Friday -- four months to the day after the Sept.
11 attacks.

Some apparently struggled, and Marines appeared to push them
to their knees. Most, however, seemed to offer little
resistance as they hobbled from the huge Air Force cargo
plane that ferried them halfway across the world to a jail
for terrorism suspects on the edge of the Caribbean.

They wore fluorescent orange jumpsuits, and those whose legs
were shackled walked with baby steps. Apparently, when a few
resisted, one of two Marine MPs at each arm deftly dropped
them to their knees, then quickly pulled them up, to show
who was in charge.

On their heads were matching orange ski caps, guarding
against the cargo plane's cold, topped by earmuff-style
noise protectors' against the engines' roar.

On their mouths were turquoise surgical masks, supposedly to
protect troops against tuberculosis. And some had blackout
goggles over their eyes.

``These represent the worst elements of al Qaeda and the
Taliban. We asked for the bad guys first,'' declared Marine
Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of the prison project,
just hours before their huge C-141 Starlifter set down from
a 27-hour journey from Kandahar, Afghanistan.

The military left nothing to chance in the first arrival of
captives from Operation Enduring Freedom.

They ringed the aircraft on the leeward side of this
sprawling base with Marines in Humvees, some armed with
rocket launchers, others with heavy machine guns. A Navy
Huey helicopter hovered overhead, a gunner hanging off the
side.

And television and newspaper photographers who formed part
of a Pentagon news pool were forbidden to document the
first-ever arrival and transfer of prisoners at Camp X-Ray,
a rugged prison camp with six-by-eight-foot, open-air cells.


SECRECY, SECURITY

The operation was shrouded in secrecy and high security.

Then, suddenly Friday afternoon, reporters were led to a
hill and allowed to watch the delicate transfer of the 20
from the aircraft to two white school buses. They were taken
on a ferry boat to cells on the base's windward side.

Neither Lehnert nor any other military official involved in
the camp here would provide the prisoners' names,
affiliations, or even their ages. Nor would they say whether
the American Taliban, John Walker Lindh, was among the
group.

About an hour after landing, the first appeared, surrounded
by a knot of Marines. In all, the unloading part of the
mission lasted 31 minutes, time enough to lead the prisoners
off one by one, frisk them and in some instances take off
their shoes.

``It looked like a well rehearsed operation, a very thorough
operation,'' said Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello, spokesman for
the Joint Task Force that in less than a week set up the
prison camp.

Later, a spokesman for the operation commander, Marine Maj.
Steve Cox, disputed that Marine MPs had struggled with some
prisoners coming off the plane. ``No, quite to the contrary.
They were wobbly and disoriented.''

It all took place on a sultry afternoon in Cuba, along the
single working runway at this naval station that until it
got its latest detention assignment was in virtual caretaker
mode.

But Friday it bustled with purpose.

A small U.S. Navy boat patrolled offshore, within view of
the huge aircraft while the Huey made passes between the
airport and the glittering blue waters of the Caribbean.


UNFAMILIAR SCENE

Cox said the prisoners' goggles were blacked out for
security reasons. Had they not been led blind from the
airplane, they would have seen a cactus-studded landscape of
heavy brush with vultures soaring overhead -- far different
from that in Afghanistan.

Their face masks, he said, were to protect the U.S. troops
escorting them, because some prisoners had previously tested
positive for tuberculosis.

But the biggest impression was that of force. In addition to
an ambulance, three fire trucks and some sort of command
post, the military rolled out a heavy presence of Marines in
Kevlar vests, helmets and face shields -- plus heavily armed
Humvees.

Mindful of earlier Taliban rebellions, in Northern
Alliance-run prisons, the Army MPs and Marines worked
deliberately throughout the evening to process the prisoners
into their cells.

By 9 p.m., Cox said, only 13 had received physicals,
showers, fresh jumpsuits and were already in their cells.

The last seven were expected to be incarcerated by 11 p.m.

``It was calm,'' he reported. ``There was no particular
resistance put up. There was not struggling. There was not
wrestling. There was none of that type of thing taking
place.''

Lehnert, who arrived to run the operation that will
eventually move the prisoners to permanent cells, said that
``their existence will be humane but not comfortable. They
will be practicing the free expression of their religion.''


SPECIAL DIETS

To that end, the officer said, they will be provided with
``Halal'' diets, a reference to the Muslim proscription
against eating pork. Cox displayed an example: A
vacuum-packed vegetable-and-pasta dish, plus an accessory
pack that included peanuts, a granola bar and a box of Fruit
Loops.

To drink, they will be given water, Cox said.

It was 88 degrees at noon Friday, and soggy, something
likely unfamiliar to fighters from Afghanistan. By night,
mosquitoes swarm and bite.

Each man is confined to one cell, a mat on a concrete block
floor, and gets a bucket in which to relieve himself. The
camp warden said MPs would lead them, one by one, to
latrines as need be, and conceded that when it rains, some
will get wet.

Other supplies they will receive, described by Cox as
``comfort items,'' include two bath towels, one to use for
bathing, the other to serve as a prayer mat; toothpaste and
brush; soap and shampoo, plus flip-flops for footwear.

``They get the two towels but no blanket,'' the major said.

The captives' status and their future are unclear. Military
spokesmen went out of their way this week to describe them
as ``detainees,'' not prisoners of war, although Lehnert
described them at a news conference as ``EPWs'' -- enemy
prisoners of war.

There are no provisions here for lawyers, arraignments or
tribunals, although the Defense Department has said the
prisoners' detention will be consistent with the Geneva
Conventions.

Meantime, President Bush is deciding whether the prisoners
will be brought before military tribunals, and U.S.
government lawyers are writing proposals for how such trials
might take place.

So the prisoners' fate is uncertain, and so is how long they
will stay.

Officials repeatedly declined to say whether representatives
of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent were on the
base. Nor would they say how many interpreters they had
managed to fly in.

Military spokesman did, however, confirm that military
investigators, both of the Navy and a joint command, were on
hand eventually to interrogate the prisoners.

Lehnert said Friday's was just the first of what was
expected to be periodic prisoner shipments. He would not
provide a timetable.

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