On a tour of one camp occupied by detainees considered “high value” for providing intelligence, detainees in cells were clearly upset at the sound of visitors, shouting foreign words and pounding on closed doors while journalists entered an interrogation room — empty except for a set of handcuffs, a folding chair, a small table and two padded office chairs.
Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, commander of the joint task force at Guantanamo Bay, said he’s made transparency a priority. “It’s probably my best, our best opportunity to set the record straight,” he said.
Last week, human rights investigators for the United Nations urged the U.S. to allow them inside to inspect the facility. They cited “persistent and credible” reports of “serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees” as well as arbitrary detentions and violations of rights.
In response, Vice President Dick Cheney told CNN on Thursday that the detainees are well treated, well fed and “living in the tropics.”
The prison on the base in eastern Cuba opened in January 2002 to house foreigners believed to be linked to al-Qaida or the ousted Taliban in Afghanistan. U.S. officials hoped to gather intelligence from the detainees after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.
Bush declared the detainees “enemy combatants,” affording them fewer rights than prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Some detainees have been held for three years without being charged with any crimes. |
