Q&A: Guantánamo Bay

16/07/2008



The US prison for alleged terrorists has detained suspects from all over the world for five years but how exactly does it work?


Peter Walker and James Sturcke



What is Guantánamo Bay?
It is a US naval base on the eastern tip of Cuba which, for the past five years, has been used as a detention centre for suspected terrorists, mainly captured in Afghanistan during the US assault following the September 11 attacks.

Those held are suspected of fighting for the Taliban or being operatives for al-Qaida, and are considered "enemy combatants" rather than prisoners of war, meaning the US does not consider them subject to the Geneva convention.

This means prisoners can be detained indefinitely without trial, something critics condemn as a legal black hole.


Who is currently detained at Guantánamo Bay?
At its peak, around 750 prisoners were held at the camp but hundreds have been released over the years.

According to a Human Rights Watch report released last month, there are currently around 270 detainees. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the only organisation allowed to visit prisoners, says they come from about 40 countries in total, but most inmates are from Afghanistan or Pakistan.


Are there any Britons being held there?
No. Nine UK nationals were being detained. Five were released in March 2004, and the final four - Moazzam Begg, Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar - were flown to London in January 2005.

Last year, the UK government requested the release five of the nine British residents held there. Four were released in December. Last month, the Pentagon said one of the remaining UK residents at the camp - Binyam Ahmed Mohamed, an Ethiopian educated in Britain - would be charged over an alleged al-Qaida dirty bomb plot.


What is the legal status of the prisoners?
Detainees have been denied their rights under the Geneva convention, although the US insists they are being treated humanely, in line with the protocols set out in the agreement.

As long as the prisoners never touch US soil - and American courts do not consider the Cuban base to be part of the US - they are also denied the rights guaranteed to criminals under the constitution, such as a presumption of innocence and a trial by jury.

The plan is to try prisoners by military tribunal, something that has been challenged by lawyers acting for some detainees.

In June last year, the US supreme court ruled that the military violated US and international law. The government responded by passing the Military Commissions Act 2006, which legislates for tribunals where evidence can be brought and permits indefinite detention without trial where it cannot.

Last month, the supreme court ruled that detainees have a constitutional right to take their cases to civilian courts on the US mainland.


What is the international attitude to Guantánamo?
Many governments, as well as human rights groups, have demanded it be closed and the detainees charged or released immediately. Amnesty International has labelled the camp a "symbol for injustice and abuse".

The British government's stance has hardened. In October 2006, the then foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, used a speech on human rights to label the centre "unacceptable in terms of human rights", calling for it to be closed. Before leaving office, Tony Blair said Guantánamo Bay was an "anomaly" that would have to be "dealt with".


What will happen to the current detainees?
Around 75 of them are believed to have been selected to go before the military tribunals, which could begin hearings in the next few months. The fate of others is less certain.

Amnesty International has highlighted the plight of detainees such as Mohammed al-Amin, a Mauritanian national held in Pakistan as a teenager before being sent to Guantánamo.

"His interrogations have stopped; he simply languishes in the US detention facility with no ability to challenge his incarceration," the group said.


What is Camp Delta like for the prisoners?
Prisoners are held in four camps, in small, mesh-sided cells, for up to 24 hours a day. Cellblocks are made up of 48 cells. There is little privacy, and lights are kept on day and night.

Inmates are allowed half an hour of exercise between three and seven days each week in a caged recreation yard measuring 7.6 metres by 9.1 metres.

The ICRC visits prisoners, and arranges the exchange of letters between inmates and their families. US officials look over the contents of all correspondence with families, who are not allowed to visit.

Many released prisoners have alleged they were beaten or mistreated in other ways, something US officials vehemently denied.

In 2006, dozens of inmates staged hunger strikes in protest at their detention. In June 2006, three prisoners committed suicide by hanging themselves with bed sheets.


Why does the US have a naval base on Cuba?
The base dates back to a treaty, signed in 1903 and renewed in 1934, which leases the Guantánamo Bay site to the US for $4,085 (£2,113) per year.

The treaty requires the consent of both governments to revoke or change it and, unsurprisingly, the US will not agree to that. In protest, Cuba has refused to accept the rent payments.

SOURCE: The Guardian

http://www.cageprisoners.com/print.php?id=25442

Guantanamo Bay - Camp X-Ray

With the opening of Camp Delta, Camp X-ray was closed on April 29, 2002. 300 detainees previously held at Camp X-Ray were transferred to Camp Delta on April 28, 2002. The rest were transferred on April 29, 2002.
JTF 160 / JTF 170

Following the events of September 11, 2001, the military operations in Afghanistan and the ensuing captures of numerous Al Qaida and Taliban individuals, a decision was made to transfer a number of detainees to the Camp X-Ray facility. The base was to serve as a temporary holding facility for Al Qaeda, Taliban and other detainees that come under U.S. control during the war on terrorism.

The U.S. Southern Command was in charge of the operation and activated Joint Task Force-160 (JTF-160) to head the detainee operations. The task force included active duty service members from Fort Hood, TX; Fort Campbell, KY.; Roosevelt Roads, P.R.; Camp Lejeune; Norfolk, VA; Dover AFB, DE, and Charleston AFB, SC. Reserve component personnel were to also deploy on this mission. Military Police personnel were to make up the bulk of JTF-160.

Joint Task Force 160's primary mission is taking care of captured enemy combatants from the war on terrorism. It was established in support of detainee operation activities as the Holding Facility for Al Qaeda, Taliban or other terrorist personnel that come under United States control as a result of the ongoing War on Terrorism. The unit also provides support to Joint Task Force 170 which was stood up by Southern Command on 16 February 2002, to coordinate US military and government agency interrogation efforts in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

JTF 170 handles interrogation operations for the Department of Defense and ensures coordination among government agencies involved in the interrogation of the suspected terrorists. The task force is established in support of detainee operations and serves as the Department of Defense’s focal point for interrogation operations in support of "Operation Enduring Freedom".


Camp X-ray

In 1994, during the Haitian migrant operation "Operation Sea Signal" at Guantanamo Bay, a number of migrant camps were set-up at "Radio Range" the site of the Naval Base's radio antennas on the south side of the base, and the future site of the more permanent detainee facility.

To identify the camps, a name was designated to each to correspond with the phonetic alphabet used for official military "radio" communication (Camp Alpha, Camp Bravo up to Camp Golf). When additional sites were established on the north side of the base, camp names were designated using the opposite end of the alphabet, to include Camp X-Ray.

As of February 19, 2002, Camp X-Ray was the only camp site on the northern side of the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay and was being used as a temporary detention facility.

The first detainees arrived at Camp X-Ray January 11, 2002. Officials from the Red Cross visited the facility on January 17, 2004 and met with the facility commanders on January 21, 2004. According to a Washington Post story from June 13, 2004, meeting notes were drawn up from the meeting, as well as, on Januaray 24, 2004, a five-page memo was compiled by military authorities listing 29 issues of concern raised by the ICRC team.

Though DoD officials stressed that the holding conditions at Guantanamo would be humane and in accordance with the Geneva Convention. The validity of that claim was questioned by some following the release by the DoD of pictures of the detainees at Camp X-Ray and amid concerns that the United States was applying international law selectively. Foremost among these issues was the question of the legal status of the detainees with many papers feeling the men ought to be granted the status of Prisoners of War, which gives them certain rights under the Geneva Conventions, including legal representation. The U.S. was steadfastly refusing that designation, referring instead to the men as illegal combatants.

To alleviate claims of mistreatment, the Pentagon temporarily suspended flights of prisoners to the base on Thursday January 24, 2002 to avoid overcrowding. It also allowed members of the International Red Cross and the British government to visit the camp. The Red Cross recommended some changes while the British officials reported that the three British citizens being held at the facility had no complaints. A US Senatorial delegation made up of Senators Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, Ted Stevens of Alaska, Dianne Feinstein of California and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, inspected Camp X-Ray on January 27, 2002, spending about two-and-a-half hours at the facility. By then, the number of detainees had grown to 158.

The detainees were reportedly well-fed, being provided correct dietary meals, with access to shower and toilet facilities. Islamic detainees have the opportunity to pray six times a day and are ministered to by two of the U.S. military's 12 Muslim chaplains. Detainees may freely converse with one another and each has access to a copy of the Koran, if they so choose.

As of February 1, 2002, detainee in-processing and questioning at Camp X-Ray had been limited to such subjects as basic name, place of birth, time of birth, name of parents, siblings and education, though according to Sen. Inouye more in-depth interrogations was to start soon thereafter.

Detainees at Camp X-Ray are housed in temporary 8-by-8 units surrounded by wire mesh. They sleep on 4-to-5 inch-thick mattresses with sheets and blankets. The mattresses are on the floor, as is Afghan custom. Each unit has a concrete slab floor and a combination wood & metal overhead cover.

Detention units are separated by chain link fence while razor wire and watchtowers surround the compound. Guards inside the compound carry no weapons, to prevent detainees from possibly capturing weapons. The guards outside the compound are armed, however.

As of March 27, 2002, there were 300 detainees in Camp X-Ray, representing at least 33 different countries.

In addition, in response to health concerns about the detainees at Camp X-Ray, Navy service members began construction in late January of a temporary medical facility capable of providing medical attention that ranges from dental exams to major surgery. The aim of the hospital was to provide the detainees with medical care similar to that given to US troops.

Construction of the facility required over 180 people in conjunction with Navy Fleet Hospital 20 from Camp Lejeune, N.C. Initially, it took 17 Navy builders from Construction Battalion 423, commonly known as "the Seabees," to clear and prepare the land for the hospital. This took over three days of intense 24-hour operations beginning January 18. Tents went up in one day and the International Standards Organization (ISO) containers were unpacked, expanded and organized into rooms and storage areas fit for labs, washrooms and examination rooms.

The medical facility takes up approximately 1½ acres and has a 36-bed capacity. It has three wings with the first wing housing a pharmacy, a lab, an x-ray, and mobile utility modules (akin to a head facility). The second wing is a medical suite which has the casualty receiving and operating room. The third wing is an intensive care unit wing.

Water is provided through one 1500-gallon portable tank and four 2000-gallon water bladders. Wastewater is stored in two other specialized ISO containers. Power is currently provided through generators, but there is a plan to hook up shore power and use the generators as backups. In addition, laundry facilities for hospital linens will be on site.

The 24-hour facility will have security measures in place, with two military police accompanying each detainee to the hospital and remaining there with him.

Navy Seabees lated built, in a matter of hours, a 'negative-pressure' isolation ward for the hospital out of spare parts in response to demands by Fleet Hospital medical staff concerned about detainees possibly identified as infectious disease patients. The isolation was initially a storage rooom built next to the existing Fleet Hospital's ICU Ward. Seabees wired the tent for lights and hooked up an air conditioning unit. More work was then required to prevent sending contaminated air back into the unit or circulating throughout the tent.

As of April 9, 2002, More than 850 military personnel, from each of the five branches of the Armed Forces, were assigned to Joint Task Force 160 to support security operations here.


Freedom Heights

U.S. Army Military Police (MPs) provided the day-to-day security for the detainees inside Camp X-Ray while U.S. Marines provided security and perimeter patrols at Camp X-Ray. The MPs, along with Marines, infantry, and some other service members, lived outside the detention camp at "Freedom Heights", a hilltop "Tent City" which located just outside the detention facility the detention facility, overlooking it, in conditions nearly similar to the detainees.

Overall Tent City had a population of more than 500. Navy Seabees constructed guard towers and wooden buildings called SEAhuts (Southeast Asia Huts) at Camp X-Ray and installed lighting. The Seabees also later provided quality of life improvements to Tent City, providing wooden decking and lighting for tents as well as showers, an eating area and SEAhuts for recreation. Soldiers residing at Freedom Heights used make-shift showers with no hot water and porta-potties as latrine facilities

With the closing of Camp X-Ray and the opening of Camps Delta and America, Freedom Heights was also closed. Freedom Heights, the 78-tent city erected in January to house the guards who watched over the detainees at Camp X-Ray, was torn down and packed up on July 31-August 1, 2002, by 57 volunteers from Joint Task Force 160.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...-bay_x-ray.htm

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.

Guantanamo Bay [GTMO] "GITMO"

U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay is the oldest U.S. base overseas and the only one in a Communist country. Located on the southeast corner of Cuba, in the Oriente Province, the base is about 400 air miles from Miami, Florida. The terrain and climate of Guantanamo Bay make it a haven for iguanas and banana rats.

In December 1903, the United States leased the 45 square miles of land and water for use as a coaling station. A treaty reaffirmed the lease in 1934 granting Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, payment of $2,000 in gold per year, equating to $4,085 today, and a requirement that both the U.S. and Cuba must mutually consent to terminate the lease.

Diplomatic relations with Cuba were cut in 1961 by President Dwight Eisenhower. At this time, many Cubans sought refuge on the base. U.S. Marines and Cuban militiamen began patrolling opposite sides of the base's 17.4 mile fenceline. Today, U.S. Marines and Cuba's "Frontier Brigade" still man fenceline posts 24 hours a day.

In October 1962, family members of service people stationed here and many base employees were evacuated to the United States as President John F. Kennedy announced the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. This was the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis which resulted in a naval quarantine of the island until the Soviet Union removed the missiles. The evacuees were allowed to return to the base by Christmas 1962.

Another crisis arose just 14 months later on Feb. 6, 1964, when Castro cut off water and supplies to the base in retaliation for several incidents in which Cuban fishermen were fined by the U.S. government for fishing in Florida waters. Since then, Guantanamo Bay has been self-sufficient and the Naval Base desalination plant produces 3.4 million gallons of water and more than 800,000 kilowatt hours of electricity daily.

The base is divided into two distinct areas by the 2 1/2 mile-wide Guantanamo Bay. The airfield is located on the Leeward side and the main base is on the Windward side. Ferry service provides transportation across the bay. The primary mission of Guantanamo Bay is to serve as a strategic logistics base for the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet and to support counter drug operations in the Caribbean.

In 1991, the naval base's mission expanded as some 34,000 Haitian refugees passed through Guantanamo Bay. The refugees fled Haiti after a violent coup brought on by political and social upheaval in their country. The naval base received the Navy Unit Commendation and Joint Meritorious Unit Award for its effort.

In May 1994, Operation Sea Signal began and the naval base was tasked to support Joint Task Force 160, here providing humanitarian assistance to thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants. In late August and early September 1994, 2,200 family members and civilian employees were evacuated from the base as the migrant population climbed to more than 45,000 and the Pentagon began preparing to house up to 60,000 migrants on the base. The last Haitian migrants departed here Nov. 1, 1995. The last of the Cuban migrants left the base Jan. 31, 1996. In October 1995, family members were authorized to return, marking an end to family separations. An immediate effort began to restore base facilities for family use, including a child development center, a youth center, two schools and Sunday school. Additionally, the revitalization of Boy and Girl Scout Camps and the Guantanamo Bay Youth Activities (a free sports program for children) was enacted.

During the Haitian migrant operation "Operation Sea Signal" at Guantanamo Bay, a number of migrant camps were set-up at "Radio Range" the site of the Naval Base's radio antennas on the south side of the base, and the future site of the more permanent detainee facility. To identify the camps, a name was designated to each to correspond with the phonetic alphabet used for official military "radio" communication (Camp Alpha, Camp Bravo up to Camp Golf). When additional sites were established on the north side of the base, camp names were designated using the opposite end of the alphabet, to include Camp X-Ray. Camp X-Ray is the only camp site on the northern side of the base and is currently used as a temporary detention facility.

Since Sea Signal, Guantanamo Bay has retained a migrant operations mission with an ongoing steady state migrant population of approximately 40. The base has also conducted two contingency migrant operations: Operation Marathon in October 1996 and Present Haven in February 1997. Both of these short-fused events involved the interception of Chinese migrants being smuggled into the United States.

After 52 years of service, Guantanamo's Fleet Training Group relocated to Mayport, Florida, in July 1995. One month later, the naval base lost another major tenant command when the base's Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity disestablished after 92 years of service.

On 13 June 2003 Brown & Root Services, a division of Kellogg Brown & Root, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $12,495,601 modification to Task Order 0038 at under a cost-reimbursement, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity construction contract for various facilities, Radio Range, U.S. Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay. The work to be performed includes new facilities for traffic control checkpoints (main and secondary checkpoints), troop bed-down facility, troop dining facility and destructive weather improvements to detention facility structures. The project will also include site work, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, plumbing and electrical work, as required for the various facilities. Work will be performed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is expected to be completed by June 2004. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The basic contract was competitively procured with 44 proposals solicited, three offers received and award made on June 29, 2000. The total contract amount is not to exceed $300,000,000, which includes the base period and four option years. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic Division, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity (N62470-00-D-0005).

The Naval Base includes, as separate commands, a Naval Hospital and Branch Dental Clinic, detachments of the Personnel Support Activity, Naval Atlantic Meteorologic and Oceanographic Command, Naval Media Center, Naval Communications Station, Department of Defense Dependent Schools and a Navy Brig. Directly supporting the base as departments of Naval Station are Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Resident Officer in Charge of Construction, Human Resources Office, Family Support and Service Center, Red Cross, Security and Navy Exchange/Commissary.

Guantanamo Bay, located on the southeast coast of the island of Cuba about 500 statute miles southeast of Miami, Florida, is approached via the Windward Passage from the north or the Caribbean Sea from the south . Guantanamo Bay is the largest bay on the extreme south coast of Cuba, and affords anchorage for deep-draft ships. The bay is a pouch-shaped indentation about 12 miles long in a northeast-southwest direction and about 6 miles across at its greatest width. Guantanamo Valley, a low, hilly district, extends westward from the bay along the Sierra Maestra. The deep bay is sheltered by the nearby Cuzco Hills (elevations to 495 ft) to the south and east and by mountains to the north.

Entrance into the bay, between Leeward Point and Windward Point, is made through a 1 1/4 mile-wide channel with 42 ft least dredged depth up to a point westward of Fisherman Point. From there to a point southwestward of Caravela Point, the least dredged depth is 32 ft.

The bay complex is divided into an Outer Harbor and an Inner Harbor. The Outer Harbor stretches from the entrance to the Naval Reservation Boundary about 5 miles northeastward. The channel narrows to 250 yards here, at Palma Point, then widens into two separate bays whose total width is about 5 miles; the upper half, known as Ensenada de Joa, forms the Inner Harbor in which commercial ports are located. The naval base and the main anchorage area are contained within the Outer Harbor area.

The naval complex is located on the east side of the harbor between Fisherman Point (1 3/4 miles north of Windward Point) and Granadillo Point, abut 2 3/4 miles northeastward. The area contains many coves and peninsulas and a few islands. Much of the land here is elevated well above water level. The western side of Guantanamo Bay, generally low and mangrove-covered, contains many mud flats.

The more important coves, located between Corinaso Point and Deer Point, contain the pier and wharf facilities of the naval base. The land is lower and flatter here for a few hundred yards inland. Two airfields are located within the naval complex: McCalla Airfield, on the east side of the harbor entrance, is inactive; Leeward Point Field on the west side is an active naval air station.

Water depths vary from about 60 ft just inside the harbor entrance to approximately 30 ft in Granadillo Bay (on the east side of the Outer Harbor) and at the entrance to Eagle Channel. Many of the coves are only 25 ft deep. The mean tide range is 1.0 ft and the spring tide range is 1.3 ft. Periodic tidal variations as great as 4-5 ft have been observed, but these probably were meteorological versus astronomical phenomena. Harbor tidal currents in Guantanamo Bay are estimated to be about .25 kt on the flood to .50 kt on the ebb. Locally at the river mouth, stronger currents are observed periodically. Swells ranging 3-5 ft are common during the afternoons and nights, extending upbay from the harbor entrance to Fisherman Point. During an extended period of fresh southerly winds from a recent winter storm on the Gulf of Mexico (Apr 83), waves up to 10-12 ft were observed in the outer harbor; these disrupted the lifeline ferry service from Leeward Point for two days.

At Guantanamo Bay, the Outer Harbor is used by the US Navy and the Inner Harbor serves as a commercial (Cuban) port. This evaluation deals with the facilities of the Outer Harbor only, although the climatology section is appropriate for both harbors. The Outer Harbor includes that portion of Guantanamo Bay from the entrance north to Palma Point (approximately 19° 58' 24"N). The major naval facilities are contained within Corinaso Cove from Corinaso Point to Radio Point. There are five piers available, varying in length from 180-900 ft with depths alongside from 20 to 35 ft. Three wharves provide accommodations up to 1065 ft with depths to 38 ft. Piers and wharves range from 6 to 10 ft in height above MSL. It should be noted that dredge depths decrease along some piers (see Pier B) and also that dredge width may be minimal and maneuvering is consequently difficult. Berths and anchorages in Guantanamo Bay are assigned by the Port Services Officer. The naval anchorage areas for deep-draft vessels are in the Outer Harbor. Pilots are available and required for ships engaged in commercial trade, but are not compulsory for ships of the US Navy. Tugs (normally two available) and other harbor services may be arranged through Port Control. Emergency harbor services are available 24 hours a day.

In early 2005, four white wind turbines began operating John Paul Jones Hill, the base’s highest point, named after the Revolutionary War naval hero. The turbines, standing at 80 meters (262 feet) high, feature three-blade turbines. The four turbines are estimated to provide as much as a quarter of the base’s power generation during the high-wind months of late summer and fall; an appreciable fact given that Guantanamo Bay is completely self-sustaining, generating its own power and water without having to rely on Cuban municipal sources. In addition to generating power, the turbines have significantly cut down on emissions of greenhouse gases created through burning diesel fuel. Black clouds containing carbon dioxide can routinely be seen pouring from the diesel generators supplying power to the base’s energy grid. Each turbine is anchored in a giant block of concrete, through which 22 soil anchors are drilled into the mountain to a depth of 30 to 40 feet deep. These are then sealed with grout. The automated turbines are rated to withstand winds of up to 140 miles per hour.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...tanamo-bay.htm

__________________
Regards

Aarwaa

Pakistan is ruled by three As - Army, America and Allah.