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sent by Simon McGuinness - Oct 24, 2005<br><br>
[Worried at the "anti-Americanism" of some of this Irish
security<br>
correspondent's (and ex-Irish army intelligence officer) reports
about<br>
the use of Shannon airport, the USA decided to give him the VIP<br>
treatment and fly him out to Guantanamo. He is not allowed to
describe<br>
the reporting restrictions under which this report was prepared,
beyond<br>
saying that the security was unlike anything he had ever experienced<br>
(he has travelled extensively in the middle east and Israel).<br><br>
Sanitised, sterile, Spartan, are the words he used to describe [the
best<br>
parts] of Camp X-ray which is entirely out of sight from the main
naval<br>
base area - Guantanamo is apparently 45 square miles in size.<br><br>
The most compliant prisoners get to exercise in a 14 x 16ft room.
They<br>
are allowed a football. Shackled hand and foot and hobbled, the
less<br>
compliant prisoners don’t get any access to exercise at all. He was
not<br>
allowed access to the detention areas for these "less
compliant"<br>
prisoners. <br><br>
Clonan asked the 2-star General Hood, who is overall in charge of
the<br>
camp, about the conditions of detention and was advised that nothing<br>
happens at Guantanamo which is not in accordance with Department of<br>
Defense directions.<br><br>
Asked about their "exit date" - the most important date in the
life of<br>
any detained person - he was advised that the detainees have no exit<br>
date. Asked if this was not "cruel and unusual
punishment" the general<br>
said "It is not clear when the global war on terror will end -
their<br>
continued detention is a matter for policy makers."<br><br>
Describing an unnamed prisoner facing a review board, Clonan said
that<br>
the prisoner was shackled hand and foot and shackled to the floor.
When<br>
he saw the reporter enter the room he attempted to stand up but fell<br>
over because the shackle didn’t afford him that degree of movement.<br>
Clonan described the procedure as administrative, certainly not a<br>
judicial process. There is no discovery of the evidence against
the<br>
accursed, 80% of the information against them not revealed by the<br>
prosecution. <br><br>
After a series of questions about alleged military training in an Al<br>
Qaeda training camp, he turned to the reporter and said in English:
"Do<br>
I look like Rambo to you?" Later, at the end of the hearing he
again<br>
turned to the reporter and said "I just want to go home and see
my<br>
daughter". <br><br>
He will, apparently, be allowed another review in 12 months time
where<br>
he will again not be advised of the evidence against him. -
SMcG]<br><br>
<br>
The Irish Times, Sat, Oct 22, 05 <br>
<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/newsfeatures/2005/1022/3401893371WK22TOMMAINWK22P1TES.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/newsfeatures/2005/1022/3401893371WK22TOMMAINWK22P1TES.html<br>
<br>
</a>Inside Guantanamo<br><br>
Irish Times Security Analyst Tom Clonan visits the US military's<br>
terrorist detention centre, in the first of a three-part series<br><br>
The immigration card for the US asks you to state at what address
you<br>
intend to reside while there. I carefully fill in "Joint Task
Force,<br>
Guantanamo Bay, (JTF GTMO), Camp Delta, US Naval Station,
Cuba".<br><br>
The US immigration official at Dublin airport stares long and hard
at<br>
the card and at me. After a significant pause he says: "You gotta
be<br>
kiddin me, right?"<br><br>
He lets me through. Many hours later, in Florida's Fort Lauderdale<br>
International Airport, I'm checking in for the charter flight to<br>
Guantanamo. "Got your ground clearance sir?" asks the check-in
girl. "No<br>
one goes to Guantanamo without ground clearance."<br><br>
As she eyes my Irish passport with some incredulity - "Ain't seen
one of<br>
these before" - I fumble for the ground clearance cert that had
been<br>
issued to me by the US military authorities at Guantanamo.<br><br>
My fellow passengers, eight in all, consist of two Filipino contract<br>
workers, a Nebraskan TV cameraman, a Dutch TV presenter and four<br>
strangely silent men and women in civilian clothing.<br><br>
October is Hurricane season in Florida. As the elderly nine-seat<br>
twin-engine Cessna rattles down the runway, swaying and bucking as
it<br>
does so, I begin to think very seriously about the tropical storm<br>
warnings I had been listening to all morning. Eventually airborne,
we<br>
bank southwest towards the Florida Keys, rising steadily over the<br>
Atlantic.<br><br>
No one speaks throughout the entire four-and-a-half hour flight,
with<br>
the exception of the Nebraskan, who punctuates the tense silence
with<br>
regular exclamations of "holy shit" as strong winds buffet the
plane.<br>
The four silent men and women remain expressionless and studiously
avoid<br>
eye contact.<br><br>
Our descent into Guantanamo Bay is steep and rapid. I am immediately<br>
struck by the sheer size and physical beauty of the US base - about<br>
116sq km (45 square miles), including five square kilometres (two
square<br>
miles) of natural deep-sea port waters.<br><br>
As we make our final approach, I get a clear view of the perimeter
fence<br>
- 27km (17 miles) long and dotted with Cuban and US military towers
-<br>
that separates Guantanamo from Cuba.<br><br>
My silent fellow passengers make a quick exit without even the
briefest<br>
of backward glances. It's clear to me that they are certainly not<br>
tourists and definitely not interested in exchanging names and phone<br>
numbers. I quickly learn that on Guantanamo, it is impolite to ask
for<br>
anyone's identity.<br><br>
GUANTANAMO IS HOT, even in October. It's approaching 40 degrees when
I<br>
arrive.<br><br>
Our reception committee consists of two female US marines - both of
whom<br>
carry pump-action shotguns in addition to side-arms. Despite this,
and<br>
my sense of foreboding about the base, the welcome we receive from
the<br>
US marine corps is warm and informal. One of the marines smirks at
the<br>
woolly jumper I have been wearing since I left Dublin. "You sure
won't<br>
be needing that sweater here sir."<br><br>
In the first of many seeming contradictions I would encounter on<br>
Guantanamo, the US marines who process our arrival and security check
on<br>
the base are thorough and efficient, and yet at the same time these<br>
young - very young - soldiers are informal, articulate and
friendly.<br><br>
I then meet my guide for the coming days - Sheila Tunney, a public<br>
affairs officer who happens to be Irish-American.<br><br>
Guantanamo is unmistakably American. US road signage and street
markings<br>
are everywhere. So also are large motel-like accommodation blocks
built<br>
for the troops based there.<br><br>
Near the port is a sprawling air-conditioned shopping mall. The
overall<br>
feel of Guantanamo is of a small US town. Americana is all around:<br>
yellow school buses, flood-lit football pitches and running tracks,
a<br>
nine-hole golf course and a neon-lit McDonald's drive-through.<br><br>
This is home-town USA except that it's also a detention centre for<br>
hundreds of suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, most captured
in<br>
Afghanistan during the US-led Enduring Freedom, the invasion that<br>
toppled the Taliban in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York and<br>
Washington.<br><br>
The peculiar Stepford-like quality to Guantanamo is reinforced on
the<br>
windward side of the base where small residential housing estates
with<br>
names such as Iguana Drive and Caribbean Circle are located. These<br>
pretty housing estates, with neat white painted picket fences,
comprise<br>
part of what the troops refer to as the downtown area.<br><br>
Driving out of downtown, one climbs slowly uphill to a ridge, atop
which<br>
one encounters the first of many security measures. A condition of
being<br>
allowed visit Guantanamo is that journalists do not describe
security<br>
measures in detail. Suffice it to say they are substantial.<br><br>
Beyond the ridge, the sprawling Camp Delta comes into view.<br><br>
The camp consists of five detention centres - numbered one to five -<br>
where approximately 505 detainees are confined. They are divided
into<br>
three categories - most-compliant, compliant and non-compliant.<br><br>
Most-compliant detainees wear white cotton uniforms and are housed in
a<br>
communal setting with relative freedom of movement and association
in<br>
Camp 4. These detainees comprise 34 per cent of Guantanamo's prison<br>
population.<br><br>
Compliant detainees wear tan-coloured cotton uniforms and are
detained<br>
in Camp 1. They make up 31 per cent of Guantanamo's inmates.<br><br>
Non-compliant detainees - 19 per cent of Guantanamo Bay's prison<br>
population - are prisoners who are deemed violent and a threat to
guards<br>
and fellow detainees. They are housed in Camps 2 and 3 and wear
orange<br>
uniforms.<br><br>
Camp 5 is a newly constructed state-of-the-art prison modelled on an<br>
Indiana state prison. It houses 16 per cent of Camp Delta's inmates -
a<br>
mixture of non-compliant, compliant and most-compliant prisoners -
who<br>
are considered by the authorities to be of the highest potential<br>
intelligence value to the US.<br><br>
The entire Camp Delta complex housing the five detention centres is
a<br>
maze of watchtowers and high barbed wire. There are many layers of<br>
fencing masked with green netting along with a profusion of arc
lights,<br>
infra-red monitors, cameras and gateway systems. Spread over a wide<br>
area, Camp Delta overlooks the ocean to the west and its
neighbouring<br>
camp, Camp America, which is the administrative headquarters of the
US<br>
troops who guard the detention facility.<br><br>
Aside from the 2,000 or so soldiers that guard Camp Delta, there are
a<br>
further 5,000 or more US marines and US navy personnel deployed to<br>
Guantanamo Bay. In addition, there is a large number of American<br>
civilian contractors on the base, along with so-called third country<br>
nationals including Filipinos, Jamaicans and Haitians.<br><br>
As well as these personnel, there is a cohort of interpreters of
various<br>
nationalities who live within the base and who assist in the<br>
interrogation and administration of detainees. There are also a
number<br>
of personnel from the US's various intelligence agencies on the base
-<br>
including from time to time, members of the CIA.<br><br>
Throughout my stay on Guantanamo, I am not allowed approach or talk
to<br>
any civilian personnel on the base. All of these civilians and most
of<br>
the US military personnel I encounter wear no identifying name tags
and<br>
obscure their identity cards when we walk past each other.<br><br>
At sunset on my first day, I watch from the porch of my
air-conditioned<br>
quarters as the Stars and Stripes are lowered to the accompaniment
of<br>
the US national anthem. As the US military personnel around me face
the<br>
flag and snap to attention, I can hear the Muslim call to prayer
blow<br>
gently on the breeze from Camp Delta.<br><br>
Contradictions and culture clashes abound on Guantanamo.<br><br>
SOLDIERS SPEND A 12-month tour of duty at the US military base at<br>
Guantanamo. A year away from home and loved ones is a long time. Most
of<br>
the soldiers and sailors I speak to say that Guantanamo is a
stressful<br>
posting.<br><br>
Dealing with the oppressive heat and working in the close confines
of<br>
Camp Delta takes its toll. At night however, over a few relaxing
beers<br>
at barbecues and karaoke, the soldiers agree on one thing: "It
sure<br>
beats serving in Iraq."<br><br>
Pulling guard duty in Camp Delta is considered the most difficult<br>
assignment on Guantanamo. Inside Camp Delta, all personnel are
required<br>
to remove nametags and identification badges. I am informed that this
is<br>
designed to protect the identity of soldiers and civilians working<br>
there.<br><br>
This anonymity is also designed to protect US soldiers and family<br>
members - many of whom are already serving or are due to serve in Iraq
-<br>
from possible reprisals if captured by al-Qaeda.<br><br>
At the entrance I notice the rank markings and unit insignia of the<br>
soldier nearest to me are of a cavalry unit I have written
extensively<br>
about in the past.<br><br>
When I mention his home state, his cold stare evaporates and he
breaks<br>
into a huge grin.<br><br>
"And what part of Ireland are you from man?" he asks.<br><br>
The others manning the gate express enormous interest in my
nationality.<br>
"You really from Ireland, dude?"<br><br>
When I ask them have they ever been to Ireland, they break into<br>
collective laughter. "Sure man - we've all been through Shannon a
couple<br>
of times."<br><br>
Once inside Camp Delta, I am introduced to Sgt Maj Sanchez of the US<br>
marine corps . "You can print my name - I'm already on the
internet," he<br>
says.<br><br>
Sgt Maj Sanchez describes the daily routine during Ramadan for the<br>
detainees. "Prayers, exercise, education - we teach them to read
and<br>
write Urdu, Pashtu, Arabic, Farsi, and Uzbek. They get to write home
and<br>
receive letters.<br><br>
"Many of the detainees were illiterate when they got here - when
they<br>
write their first postcard home, we have a graduation ceremony for<br>
them."<br><br>
Sgt Maj Sanchez also outlines the manner in which Camp Delta<br>
nutritionists design special menus for Ramadan - "to ensure they get
a<br>
balanced diet and the right calorific intake during the fasting
period,<br>
though not all of them fast, some of them eat due to personal
issues,<br>
such as illness or whatever."<br><br>
At sunset, the prisoners pray. "They pray a lot," notes Sgt Maj
Sanchez.<br><br>
UNLIKE THE OPEN-AIR Camp X Ray, where detainees were first housed on<br>
arrival to Guantanamo in 2002, the Halliburton-built Camp Delta is a<br>
primitive, but fully functioning prison system.<br><br>
The detainees are housed in individual cells in
concrete-and-steel-built<br>
blockhouses or wings. Each block houses 48 cells, 24 opposite 24.
Each<br>
green and black concrete cell has its own bed, squat toilet and
basic<br>
sink. No slopping out for prisoners in Guantanamo.<br><br>
Compliant prisoners are allowed prayer mats, prayer hats, a Koran,<br>
reading and writing materials, toiletries and board games. Each cell
is<br>
separated by a metal grid and detainees can communicate freely with
one<br>
another through the wire mesh.<br><br>
"Leaders assert themselves in here, you know, lead the group in
prayers<br>
and such," says Sgt Maj Sanchez. "Some are instigators or
agitators, but<br>
they're pretty much compliant most of the time."<br><br>
When the prisoners are at prayer, a traffic cone with the letter P<br>
marked on it is pushed into the centre of the block by the guards to<br>
ensure a respectful silence is maintained by other Camp Delta
personnel<br>
entering the wing.<br><br>
At the end of each block is an exercise area. The exercise area
consists<br>
of a caged and shaded space - about 50 square metres (60 square
yards)<br>
in size. A football sits forlornly in the corner of the empty cage.<br>
Pointing at the ball, one of the guards says: "you should see
these<br>
guys, you know, in the orange uniform and the beards and all,
they're<br>
pretty talented with the ball."<br><br>
On the floor of the exercise yard - and in each cell block and cell -
a<br>
small arrow with the word "Makkah" indicates the distance and
direction<br>
to Mecca. "This facilitates prayer," says the guard.<br><br>
These are the conditions that apply for the compliant detainees in
Camp<br>
1, and also the non-compliant detainees in Camps 2 and 3. Sgt Maj<br>
Sanchez describes the prisoners there as "violent from time to
time".<br><br>
"They have been known to throw faeces, and other bodily fluids at
the<br>
guards - and they can be verbally abusive."<br><br>
I am told that for safety reasons, I am not permitted access to Camps
2<br>
and 3.<br><br>
From time to time, detainees in tan and orange uniforms pass
by,<br>
escorted by guards.<br><br>
These prisoners are shackled at the ankles and wrists, with both sets
of<br>
shackles connected by a long chain, which effectively hobbles the<br>
detainee. One detainee in particular stares at me and continues to
stare<br>
intensely at me over his shoulder until he disappears around a corner
at<br>
the end of the block.<br><br>
Sgt Maj Sanchez observes this. "All detainees get private access
to<br>
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel - there
are<br>
five permanently on Guantanamo - they meet here in Juliet Block in
Camp<br>
1," he says.<br><br>
He points to a table and chairs where prisoners can meet with ICRC<br>
personnel on request. Interpreters, I am informed, are provided and<br>
guards observe such meetings from a distance.<br><br>
>From here I am brought to Camp 4. In this camp, housing over one
third<br>
of Camp Delta's population, the most-compliant detainees live in<br>
communal prison bays. In addition to freedom of association and
freedom<br>
of movement, the detainees in Camp 4 share a central, outdoor
exercise<br>
yard - a large area with a basketball hoop at each end.<br><br>
Sgt Maj Sanchez informs me that the detainees love to "shoot
hoops".<br><br>
"They're crazy about basketball - and they're pretty good at
it."<br><br>
A large number of detainees move to and fro through the environs of
Camp<br>
4, unshackled and uncuffed. They stare languidly at me through the
wire.<br>
None makes any attempt to communicate. The heat is truly oppressive
and<br>
as I leave Camp 4, the prisoners continue to stare indifferently in
my<br>
direction.<br><br>
From Camp 4 we make our way to Camp Delta's medical and
outpatients<br>
unit. Newly constructed and fully air conditioned, the facility is
run<br>
by US navy captain and surgeon, John Edmondson. He shows us around
the<br>
high-tech facility. He then takes questions.<br><br>
"How many prisoners are on hunger strike?" I ask. One of
Capt<br>
Edmondson's aides corrects me. "You mean voluntary
fasting."<br><br>
Capt Edmondson cuts in. "Yeah, it's a hunger strike, call it what
you<br>
will."<br><br>
He says the number on hunger strike fluctuates but that at the moment
it<br>
is around 50 detainees. I ask him if they will be force-fed.
"Yes," he<br>
replies.<br><br>
"I'm a doctor, this is my hospital and I'm not in the business
of<br>
letting people die."<br><br>
I ask him how he force-feeds the detainees. "Nasally, through a tube
-<br>
some we have to restrain initially, but when they register their<br>
disagreement, they all accept the feeding. We've had a few take out
the<br>
drip from time to time, but on the whole, they accept it."<br><br>
I THEN ASK Cap Edmondson about prisoner abuse. He assures me that it<br>
"doesn't happen at Guantanamo". He says he has never treated a
patient<br>
at Guantanamo with injuries consistent with a beating or any other<br>
maltreatment.<br><br>
He says that his predecessor found no evidence of maltreatment or<br>
beatings. Citing concerns about privacy and "the principles of the
Third<br>
Geneva Convention", which "prohibits the display of detainees
for public<br>
curiosity", I am refused permission to see Guantanamo's hunger
strikers.<br><br>
The last of Camp Delta's facilities I visit is Camp 5, the<br>
state-of-the-art maximum-security wing which houses 16 per cent of<br>
Guantanamo's detainees.<br><br>
Recently built - it was completed in April of 2004 - Camp 5 or Camp
Echo<br>
as it is also known, is modelled on Miami County Prison in Indiana.<br>
Unlike the remainder of Camp Delta, Camp 5 is fully air-conditioned
and<br>
resembles any high-tech prison in the US.<br><br>
There are four wings within the prison, each capable of holding 24<br>
prisoners. Each cell is painted white and has its own slit window.
Each<br>
cell is equipped with a bed, stainless-steel sink and toilet.<br><br>
Camp 5 has an eerie feel to it - a sterile, sanitised building with<br>
security doors that crash shut. As a tropical thunderstorm rages<br>
outside, the thunder is barely audible.<br><br>
Camp Echo is an apt name. With its stark chambers, it has an air of<br>
permanency that gives some clue as to the future of Guantanamo Bay.
The<br>
massive investment in this facility, along with the fact that it is
as<br>
yet only half full of prisoners deemed to be of high-intelligence
value<br>
to the US, seem to indicate that Guantanamo will be in operation for<br>
some years to come.<br><br>
On Monday's Agenda page, Tom Clonan meets a prisoner alleged to have<br>
worked closely with Saddam Hussein<br><br>
© The Irish Times <br><br>
<br>
------------------------------<br><br>
<br>
The Irish Times, Mon, Oct 24, 05 <br>
<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/1024/2601145891AG24PRISONERS.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/1024/2601145891AG24PRISONERS.html<br>
</a> <br><br>
Inside Guantanamo: Part 2<br><br>
Tom Clonan spent several days recently at Guantanamo<br>
Bay, the US naval base in Cuba and detention centre for prisoners<br>
captured in President Bush's war on terror. In Saturday's Irish
Times,<br>
he described the base and wrote about the soldiers who work there.
Here<br>
he describes what life is like for the detainees<br><br>
'You are an educated man, you can see I am not a threat to the
USA'<br><br>
There are currently about 505 detainees on Guantanamo. Since camps X
Ray<br>
and Delta were established in 2002, a total of 240 prisoners have
been<br>
repatriated, released or transferred to prisons in their countries
of<br>
origin.<br><br>
As Guantanamo is located outside of the continental United States,
the<br>
legal status of its detainees remains a contested issue. At least 40<br>
habeas corpus civilian lawsuits are being fought in the US courts on<br>
behalf of detainees on Guantanamo.<br><br>
These legal challenges to the lawfulness of their detention in Camp<br>
Delta are slowly working their way towards the US Supreme Court. If<br>
successful, they aim to force the US authorities to release the<br>
detainees.<br><br>
While the detainees remain in legal limbo, the US military remains
the<br>
sole and final arbiter as to the continued detention or otherwise of<br>
Guantanamo's inmates.<br><br>
In the air-conditioned mess hall of Camp America, US navy captain
John<br>
Salsman informs me that the deliberations of "Oardec" -
Guantanamo's<br>
office for the administrative review of the detention of enemy<br>
combatants - will decide the fate of the remaining 505 detainees in
Camp<br>
Delta.<br><br>
The primary means by which this office works is through annual<br>
administrative review boards for each detainee. Capt Salsman insists<br>
that "this is not a legal process, simply an administrative process
that<br>
helps us determine whether or not a detainee remains a threat to the<br>
United States or its allies".<br><br>
The review boards are held within Camp Delta itself. I am invited by<br>
Capt Salsman to attend the review of a detainee who is alleged to
have<br>
very close links to Osama bin Laden.<br><br>
Under the ground rules governing my presence at Guantanamo, I am not<br>
free to identify this person. I am advised that I must remain silent<br>
throughout the hearing and that - along with the detainee - I will
not<br>
be permitted to hear any of the classified intelligence or evidence<br>
against him.<br><br>
Capt Salsman informs me that "on average, 80 per cent of the
information<br>
upon which it [the hearing] will deliberate is classified".<br><br>
According to Capt Salsman, for "security reasons and in order to
protect<br>
valuable intelligence sources", detainees at Guantanamo, on
average,<br>
only get to hear about 20 per cent of the charges or allegations
made<br>
against them.<br><br>
Before the hearing convenes, I meet the panel of officers who will<br>
adjudicate. They are five US army and air force colonels.<br><br>
I introduce myself. Two of them state that they are Irish-American.
I<br>
later learn that "apart from a brief stopover at Shannon", they
have not<br>
yet had a chance to visit Ireland.<br><br>
We enter the room where the hearing is to be held. Hassan, which is
a<br>
name I have given him, is seated beside an interpreter. He is a<br>
compliant prisoner and is dressed in a tan uniform.<br><br>
Although aged 31, he looks to be in his mid-twenties. He is of
average<br>
height and of slight build. He is bearded with braided hair and is<br>
shackled at the ankles and wrists. He is attached by a chain to a
metal<br>
ring that has been embedded in the floor.<br><br>
As we enter he tries to stand. The chain however, is too short to
allow<br>
him to stand fully upright. He loses his balance and unable to move
his<br>
arms or legs, falls heavily to one side.<br><br>
An air force colonel seated next to him embraces him in an attempt
to<br>
break his fall. The colonel in charge asks him through the
interpreter<br>
if he is okay and reassures him that it is not necessary to stand
up.<br><br>
The officers take an oath in English to discharge their duties to
the<br>
best of their abilities. The detainee takes an Islamic oath in
Arabic.<br><br>
The detainee is then asked through the interpreter if it is true that
he<br>
attended a Saudi training camp in Pakistan where he learned to fire
a<br>
Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle.<br><br>
Hassan answers the panel in English and looking directly at me says:<br>
"Yes, I did - do I look like Rambo to you?"<br><br>
Everyone, including the detainee, bursts into laughter.<br><br>
Hassan is then asked about his movements and activities in Bosnia
during<br>
the civil war in the former Yugoslavia. He denies that he fought
there<br>
and says: "I went there to get a wife, a blonde one, in a safe
city."<br><br>
There is more laughter.<br><br>
Hassan becomes agitated however at what he states are
inconsistencies<br>
and inaccuracies in the summary statement.<br><br>
"I have told my interrogators time and time again, maybe 600
times,<br>
these things are not true."<br><br>
The chairman of the hearing assures the detainee that his
observations<br>
will be noted for the record.<br><br>
Hassan continues to look in my direction from time to time. He tells
the<br>
chairman through his interpreter that he wishes to discuss some
matters<br>
with the board in private.<br><br>
The hearing adjourns and I am escorted out of the room. Some 15
minutes<br>
later I am escorted back into the room. The mood in the room has
changed<br>
considerably.<br><br>
HASSAN IS ASKED to make an oral submission to the board as to why he<br>
should be released. Addressing the Irish-American colonel who is<br>
chairman, he states in English: "You are a very senior officer and
an<br>
educated man, you can see that I am not a threat to the USA, I am not
a<br>
threat to anyone."<br><br>
Looking around at everyone in the room then and in a barely audible<br>
voice, Hassan states: "I just want to go home and see my daughter .
. .<br>
I want to make a new life, a new start, be with my family."<br><br>
The board concludes its business.<br><br>
I am informed by Capt Salsman that under review rules I am not
permitted<br>
to inquire as to Hassan's fate or the outcome of the hearing at any<br>
point in the future.<br><br>
As he is led in chains back into the suffocating heat of Camp Delta,
I<br>
am told that Hassan will learn of his fate "in a number of
months".<br><br>
I am then brought to the air-conditioned headquarters of the
Guantanamo<br>
military authorities where I meet Maj Gen Jay Hood, the overall<br>
commander of the base at Guantanamo. His schedule is tight but I am<br>
allowed 20 minutes to ask questions about Guantanamo.<br><br>
I ask how intelligence gained at Camp Delta - three years after<br>
detainees were captured - could possibly be of any use to the US<br>
military or intelligence agencies.<br><br>
Gen Hood concedes that "specific actionable intelligence relevant to
a<br>
battlefield commander in 'Centcom' [central command] doesn't present<br>
itself here every day". He goes on to make the point: "Instead,
what<br>
we're getting is far more strategic in nature."<br><br>
Gen Hood then describes the manner in which Guantanamo's detainees
have<br>
helped the US military gain critical insights into how al-Qaeda and<br>
other extremist groups operate throughout the world.<br><br>
"We're gaining over time a much better understanding of how elements
of<br>
al-Qaeda attempt to recruit young men. Who did they target, what age<br>
groups, what mentalities, what backgrounds, what levels of
education.<br>
Who might be a terrorist operative for them? How did they finance<br>
themselves? What happened in the days immediately after 9/11 with<br>
accounts that they could still draw money on? How did they train?
How<br>
did they issue orders? What were their targets? How do they resource<br>
themselves?<br><br>
"All of that, if you imagine al-Qaeda as a giant mosaic, a
bigger<br>
picture, and its related terrorist organisations - we're still
filling<br>
in all sorts of small pieces of that giant mosaic."<br><br>
According to Gen Hood, on a cost-benefit analysis, Camp Delta is
still<br>
making a valuable contribution to the war on terror.<br><br>
"I would like to point out there is no one shooting at us here,
there<br>
are no mortar rounds falling in here. It is a very safe secure
facility.<br>
There's value in that."<br><br>
I then ask Gen Hood about the manner in which interrogations are
carried<br>
out and about any intelligence agencies that may participate in the<br>
interrogations.<br><br>
"Tom, you know I'm not gonna talk about many of the agencies who
may<br>
have had some time here," says Gen Hood.<br><br>
He does concede, however, that: "All of the major inter-agency
players<br>
in the United States have an interest here and have either had
people<br>
here or sent people here to visit."<br><br>
I ask if he has oversight of the activities of personnel from other<br>
agencies during interrogations. He answers without hesitation.<br>
"Absolutely. Every single detainee at GTMO bay [ the US military
has<br>
shortened Guantanamo into the acronym GTMO] is under my control and
any<br>
actions involving them are in accordance with department of defence<br>
directives at all times."<br><br>
When I ask him if he can guarantee this to be the case, he simply<br>
answers: "Absolutely, unequivocally."<br><br>
What is the future for Guantanamo?<br><br>
"Tom, I don't think it's fair for you to ask me to speculate. I
think<br>
that's something that policy makers have to do."<br><br>
When pushed, however, he concedes that Guantanamo will remain in<br>
existence as a detention centre for some years to come.<br><br>
"I have an obligation to plan for the longer term. I have an
obligation<br>
to provide for those in the military chain of command options as to
what<br>
we can do. And very clearly I don't wish to tell them that in two
years<br>
we won't be able to do the job any more. So, we're continuing to look
at<br>
what it takes to improve our operations here. To improve our<br>
capability."<br><br>
Finally I ask Gen Hood if he feels Camp Delta and Guantanamo Bay
suffer<br>
from a public relations problem.<br><br>
"Certainly there's been great media interest from around the world.
Most<br>
of it based on misinformation, in fact, some on deliberate propaganda.
I<br>
can tell you that with our young soldiers and sailors here, I've
asked<br>
them to continue to focus on doing their jobs as well as they
possibly<br>
can in a professional manner. And critically in a disciplined
manner.<br>
For as long as it takes." This reinforces the notion that Guantanamo
is<br>
here to stay.<br><br>
As Gen Hood leaves the room, he comments that he has never been on a<br>
proper visit to Ireland but that he did "get a chance to have a pint
of<br>
Guinness at Shannon a couple of years ago".<br><br>
In tomorrow's Opinion page, Tom Clonan says what he thinks about<br>
Guantanamo<br><br>
© The Irish Times <br><br>
<br>
------------------------------<br><br>
<br><br>
The Lesson from Guantanamo: Torture Works<br><br>
The evidence from Guantanamo is that torture works. The US
military<br>
have succeeded in achieving what Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady,
and<br>
the full might of the British Army failed to achieve during the IRA<br>
hunger strikes. They have succeeded in torturing hunger
strikers into<br>
submission.<br>
<br>
In an interview broadcast on RTE radio today, Tom Clune, Irish Times<br>
security correspondent and retired Irish army intelligence officer,
said<br>
that, during an invited visit to Guantanamo, he questioned the camp<br>
administrators on the issue of the hunger strike. Other
military<br>
officers, who he can't name, corrected his phrasing but the chief<br>
medical officer stepped forward and uncovered his name tag to reveal
his<br>
identity as Captain John Edmondson, Chief medical officer at the
camp,<br>
and said that it was a "hunger strike", regardless of what
other<br>
euphemisms the military would prefer to use. <br>
<br>
He was unapologetic about the forced feeding program: "I will force
feed<br>
them - no one will die on my watch" he said.<br>
<br>
Clune then went on to describe how the force feeding was undertaken,<br>
according to unnamed US military personnel. Apparently the hunger<br>
strikers, when they have reached a critical condition, are shackled
at<br>
ankles and wrists to a hospital gurney and a feeding tube is forced
up<br>
their nose and into their stomach. <br>
<br>
Medical feeding tubes would normally be inserted into the mouth but<br>
these can be resisted by a prisoner so it is apparent that the use
of<br>
nasal tubes is an indication of the determination of even physically<br>
weakened prisoners to resist the forced feeding process. <br>
<br>
The experience in Britain dating back to the early 1900s indicates
that<br>
the physical effort to get the feeding tube into an uncooperative<br>
prisoner results in internal tissue damage resulting in painful
after<br>
effects, muscle strains in the neck and throat area and internal<br>
bleeding. <br>
<br>
When feeding is complete it is important that the patient is
prevented<br>
from inducing vomiting to counteract the effect of the forced
feeding.<br>
This, presumably, requires the prisoner to remain strapped to the
gurney<br>
for some hours until the stomach contents have been digested. <br>
<br>
During this time the prisoner is aware of the painful internal
damage<br>
that has been inflicted with each swallow - but external signs of
this<br>
are unlikely to be evident. In these conditions even uninduced
vomiting<br>
would cause extreme pain as stomach acid would come into direct
contact<br>
with broken internal membranes in the oesophagus and throat. <br>
<br>
The prisoner will have only begun to recover from the ordeal of the<br>
forced feeding when it is time to repeat the process all over again,<br>
this time the feeding tube is forced over already damaged, and most<br>
probably bleeding, internal tissues. This goes on several times per
day<br>
for several days until the prisoner, aware that his body is
recovering<br>
from the effects of starvation, realises that his attempt to die is<br>
futile and that he will have to find another way to leave the
gulag. <br>
<br>
The US medical officer was emphatic: "After a couple of days [of
force<br>
feeding torture] they accept the regime." <br>
<br>
The lesson: torture works.<br>
<br>
Simon McGuinness.<br>
Dublin.<br>
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