Trapped in a legal no-man's land
(Filed: 17/02/2006)

In a rare visit by a British journalist, Con Coughlin reports on the changes that have taken place at Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

They are the lost souls of the war on terror. Four years after they were captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan, the hundreds of al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters held at America's Guantanamo Bay detention centre find themselves trapped in a legal no-man's land.

	A detainee walks to his cell at Camp Delta

During a rare visit this week to Camp Delta, the sprawling, heavily-guarded network of buildings where the inmates are held, I found a variety of detainees of varying ages and backgrounds still trying to come to terms with their incongruous surroundings on a Caribbean island.

I came across an elderly Pashtun tribesman with an immaculately groomed long, white beard and fierce, brown eyes, standing proudly outside his prison cell. There was a group of young Pakistani men in their early twenties engaged in a highly competitive game of football. And sitting in a quiet corner, under a metal shelter protecting them from the fierce midday sun, I found a group of middle-aged Afghan men engaged in soft-spoken conversation as they shared a communal meal.

These, according to American officials, are some of the most dangerous men on earth (there are no women detainees at Guantanamo). Of the estimated 70,000 fighters captured during the American-led coalition's war in Afghanistan, the 750 detainees that have been held at Guantanamo, the 45-square mile US Naval Base the American government leases from Cuba, have been identified, following security and intelligence checks, as key figures in the al-Qa'eda and Taliban terror networks who can provide information about terror campaigns against the West.

The detainees come from a total of 44 countries and speak a total of 17 different languages. All have been detained as a result of Operation Enduring Freedom, the American-led military campaign against al-Qa'eda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The majority are Afghan, Pakistani, Saudi and Yemeni nationals, although there is also an Australian who converted to radical Islam to take up arms against the West.

Of 750 detainees, nearly 250 have been released. Some have been released after US officials deemed them no longer a threat or to possess useful information. Others - such as the British detainees - returned to their home countries following the intervention of their governments.

But the remainder face an uncertain future, as US officials insist they are too dangerous to be released, or that they possess high-quality intelligence that is regarded as crucial to the successful prosecution of the war on terror. Even after four years in detention, some of the detainees possess critical information about the international terror network being operated by Osama bin Laden, the al-Qa'eda leader.

"One of the detainees was able to provide key information relating to the London bombings," a senior US military official at Guantanamo told The Daily Telegraph. "Even after four years they are able to provide crucial intelligence about the al-Qa'eda network."

American officials are also concerned about releasing detainees who, once released, could resume hostilities against coalition forces. At least 12 of those released so far on the grounds that they no longer posed a threat have been involved in anti-coalition attacks, including an Afghan who was fitted with a prosthetic limb while being held at Guantanamo.

During those four years the Guantanamo detention facility has changed beyond all recognition from the disturbing images that first appeared of bound, blindfolded detainees being taken for interrogation in orange jump suits. Those pictures were provided courtesy of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who allowed an American photographer unprecedented access to a sensitive border post on the Cuban border with Guantanamo to heap embarrassment on his long-standing American enemies.

The detainees are no longer held in the makeshift, iron-mesh open air structures at Camp X-Ray where the first arrivals were held following their arrival from Afghanistan in early 2002. Camp X-Ray itself now lies abandoned, covered in weeds.

The new cells inside Guantanamo Bay detention centre

The US Defence Department has spent hundreds of millions of dollars transforming what was once a sleepy, uneventful navy base into what is effectively a state-of-the-art, maximum high-security prison capable of holding hundreds of detainees for as long as the US wants to hold them. In many cases, US officials say this could be for the "duration of hostilities", which given the uncertain nature of the war on terror, could be decades.

For despite all the international criticism Washington has received over its treatment of the detainees - or "enemy combatants" as the US prefers to call them - Guantanamo has been institutionalised to the extent that work is still under way on building new, multi-million dollar maximum security facilities.

"Basically there is nowhere else we can hold these people," said a senior US official. "And so long as they pose a threat to our security, or can provide information that can help us prevent further bloodshed, then we need to have properly-equipped, maximum security facilities in Guantanamo in which we can detain them humanely."

Having undergone an exhaustive vetting and interrogation procedure, the inmates are now divided into three categories, which vary according to their willingness to accept the unique circumstances of their captivity.

There are those - the majority - whom US military officials classify as "compliant" - i.e. they accept the detention centre's routine - and are allowed the benefits of a normal prison regime.

The "compliant" are held in air-conditioned, steel-framed cells in purpose-built, single-storey blocks in the sprawling network of five prison camps that constitute Camp Delta, the replacement to Camp X-Ray.

Each block contains 48 cells surrounded by a double ring fence made of razor wire and permanently-manned watchtowers.

Each cell has its own primitive lavatory and wash basin. The inmates are issued with tan-coloured prison clothing, are provided with a range of toiletries, games such as backgammon and chess - which they play by shouting moves to inmates in neighbouring cells - and a copy of the Koran. Each cell has an arrow pointing in the direction of Mecca to enable them to conduct their daily religious devotions.

They are allowed two hours' exercise a day and to choose their three daily meals from a prison menu that includes ice cream, cookies and peanut butter. A fully staffed and equipped military hospital is available to treat any illness or medical condition, and the detainees have been treated for anything from wounds sustained fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan to cancerous tumours.

American officials like to boast that there have been no fatalities among the 750 plus detainees who have passed through Guantanamo.

"Compliant" detainees who are prepared to co-operate during interrogations with American intelligence officials are given additional privileges. This second category of detainee wears white jump suits, is allowed to live in communal accommodation, share meals with fellow inmates and play football and basketball.

But the third category - the non-compliant detainees, those who refuse to accept their confinement - pose the greatest problem for the American military. Many of these detainees are hard-core al-Qa'eda fighters who believe it is their divine mission to kill or injure their "infidel" captors. They have been known to attack their prison guards, and when unable to do so, pelt them with missiles made of faeces and urine - known as "a number four cocktail" - by the prison guards.

It is during incidents such as this that the guards have responded in controversial ways, such as abusing the Koran (the famous incident of a Koran being flushed down a prison lavatory is alleged to occurred during one such confrontation.) But fearful of a repetition of the prisoner abuse that occurred at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, the guards are under instructions not to retaliate.

"We have investigated 15 allegations of abuse against the camp guards," said a Guantanamo official. "Only five of them have been upheld, and the appropriate action has been taken against the guards."

The non-compliant prisoners are held in segregated wings of the camp and are provided with only the basic amenities, including the notorious orange jump suits. They are only allowed three half-hour exercise periods a week.

Not surprisingly it is from this wing that the majority of the hunger strikers originate. At the height of the hunger strikes last autumn there were more than 100 inmates refusing to take food. Today that figure is down to just five, and only one of those has been on hunger strike since the protest began last August.

The US government has been heavily criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups for insisting on the right to force-feed the hunger strikers. But medical officials at Guantanamo reject the criticism. "We have a duty to treat these people in a humane fashion and to save their lives, and that is what we are doing."

In addition to coping with the hunger strikes, medical staff have had to deal with an estimated 30 suicide attempts over the past four years.

To cope with the extra security demands of holding both the non-compliant detainees and those detainees who possess high value intelligence information the Americans have recently completed the construction of Camp Five, a maximum security prison modelled on a federal penitentiary in Indiana. Each of four blocks has an interrogation room where intelligence officers can question the detainees at leisure.

A measure of Washington's determination to maintain Guantanamo as its key detention facility in the war on terror for the foreseeable future is reflected in the fact that work is now under way on building a second structure at a cost of $31million.

For however much criticism they attract over Guantanamo, there is no sign of Washington backing down on its right to hold detainees at the Cuban base.

In essence, this argument is a dispute over the detainees' legal definition. For the Americans, the Guantanamo detainees are "enemy combatants", fanatical fighters who owe no allegiance to any country, wear no uniform and make no distinction between killing civilians and soldiers in their devotion to al-Qa'eda leader Osama bin Laden's war against the West.

As such, the Americans insist they are not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and do not qualify for prisoner-of-war status, even though in their treatment the detainees receive many of the privileges and level of care required by international law.

But the Bush administration's insistence on creating a new category of battlefield detainee has been roundly condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations, who argue that if they are not classified as prisoners-of-war, they should charged or released.

It is to counter this latest charge that the US authorities will later this month - February 27 - start holding "military commissions", or military courts, to try those detainees accused of war crimes. So far only 10 have been charged, and only a small percentage are likely to be brought before the commission.

"The problem is getting the evidence to try them," explained an official. "These people were captured on the battlefield, and this is not exactly a place that you can send policemen to collect evidence that can be used for a prosecution case."

US officials continue to assess the detainees to see whether or not they can be released. But even here they face problems because they are obliged not to release detainees to countries where they might be tortured on their return. At present there are about 100 detainees - including some Chinese whom the Americans want to return home, but cannot because of the treatment they might receive from their home governments.

Which means that for the foreseeable future they, along with all the other detainees, must languish in the no-man's land of Guantanamo Bay.

"Look, this is by no means ideal, but in the circumstances we believe it is the best solution," said a senior Pentagon official. "If anyone has a better idea, I'd like to hear it."

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13 February 2006: UN inquiry demands immediate closure of Guantanamo

10 February 2006: Tough US tactics end hunger strike

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