[Dryerase] Alarm!--Camp X-Ray

[The Alarm!Newswire]

On a little island rests a big problem: Wards of the War on Terrorism

By Michelle Stewart
The Alarm! Newspaper Collective

In late 2001, word came from the White House that detainees captured in 
the War on Terrorism would be kept for interrogation on a US Naval 
Base. These individuals would be held for questioning about events 
surrounding 9/11 and/or their association with the al-Qaeda network 
and/or the Taliban. Classified by the government as “detainees,” not 
“prisoners” (you be the judge on that one), these individuals were 
transported beginning in January to a remote location in Cuba. The 
place is Guantanamo Bay; the holding facilities were called Camp X-ray. 
Since January 12, 2002 the population at the Camp has swelled to nearly 
600 and renovations are underway to create more space. The expected 
total capacity for the camp is approximately 2,000. What is perhaps 
most troubling is that, unlike other prisons, you do not need to be 
charged to be held at the Camp, and there is no guarantee you will ever 
be released. Perhaps it is time we begin to get to know this camp of 
the permanently detained.

The Camps and the Arrivals
On January 12, 2002, twenty al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners arrived at a 
US Naval base located in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay from a Khandahar 
airfield in Afghanistan. Dubbed Camp X-ray, the temporary facility 
housed detainees in kennel-like conditions with open-air cells. The 
wire/mesh cells were approximately two meters by two-and-a-half meters, 
with a cement floor and wood ceiling. Sprayed down with 
high-concentrate mosquito repellent, these open-air cells left these 
occupants susceptible to the elements twenty-four hours a day.

Given two buckets on arrival, one for waste and another for water, 
inmates were placed in their cells with two blankets (one for warmth, 
another for prayer) and the Koran.  No formal activities allowed them 
to be removed from their cells. In the opening months, visiting 
reporters said they could not see the detainees from their vantage 
point 100 feet away, save the occasional  “flash” of an orange 
jumpsuit. Left in their cells all day, every day, inmates would attempt 
to use their blankets as sun blocks to repel the hot Caribbean sun. 
Within a few months, Camp Delta opened its doors. Beginning to house 
captives on April 28, 2002, Delta boasts improved living conditions 
including running water, indoor toilets and intermittent 
air-conditioning—all the pleasantries needed for a permanent prison vs. 
temporary “camp.”

In Cuba?
Fidel Castro would echo such a question considering US-Cuba relations 
and the history of the base. The base itself is approximately 
forty-five square miles located on a cliffy edge of the island, 
towering over the Caribbean Sea. The US acquired the land during the 
Spanish-American War and built a base in 1903 as part of treaty 
agreement. When Castro took Cuba in 1959, Eisenhower refused to turn 
the base over, citing the 1903 treaty, which gives the US the right to 
the land so long as it pays 2,000 gold coins annually (worth an 
estimated $4,000).

Today, nearly 3,000 US military personnel and their families can be 
found on one side of the twenty-eight-mile long fence that separates 
the base from the rest of the island. It is a fittingly hostile 
environment to host these international wards of the War on Terror.

The US federal government continues to pay the annual rent, now in 
checks, not gold coins. However, Castro reportedly has not cashed any 
of the checks.

Where the Geneva Convention Does Not Apply
A wave of controversy began in late 2001, when the detainees were being 
classified as “illegal combatants.”  The federal government refused to 
grant the detainees at Guantanamo Bay the status of prisoners of war—a 
classification that comes with a list of rights and guarantees under 
the Geneva Convention.

According to Article Four of the Convention, the detainees likely fall 
into a category of military personnel, militia, volunteer corps, etc., 
including “members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a 
government or an authority not recognized by the detaining power.” 
Despite these loose categories, the federal government would not 
classify the detainees as POWs. For some, the most troubling aspect of 
this disregard for classification is that the Convention goes on to 
say, “should any doubt arise, [the prisoner(s)] shall enjoy the 
protection of the present convention [until such time that] their 
status has been determined by a competent tribunal.” (Article Five 
Geneva Convention). The abstract classification the US has chosen for 
the Guantanamo Bay detainees leaves them in a precarious position 
whereby they are not granted status as POWs, they are stripped of all 
their rights accordingly, they are not granted the same rights as US 
citizens (held in the judicial system) and they seem to be at the whim 
and mercy of the military court and/or tribunal. All proceedings, 
questions/interrogations,  etc. are being held as classified 
information: all that goes on at Camp Delta is for military personnel 
to know and for others to wonder about.

Images Spark Further Controversy
In January, images released by the US government of new detainees 
arriving to Guantanamo Bay sparked a mixed reaction from the 
international community. Members of the public and government alike 
were concerned when the new arrivals were photographed kneeling on the 
ground with their hands restrained and their eyes and ears covered. The 
military responded by defending the use of eye goggles (covered with 
black tape), ear muffs, thick gloves, restrained hands and feet and 
surgical masks, commenting  that each detainee to Camp X-ray was 
subject to the treatment.

The US defended its use of these restraints, claiming a combination of 
security precautions and health factors. Individuals destined for the 
camp were also shaved upon leaving Afghanistan, an action many human 
right’s groups pointed out as a violation of detainees’ religious 
beliefs. The federal government responded by saying that the shaving of 
beards and hair was to reduce a lice outbreak, that detainees were 
allowed to grow their beards back upon arrival at the Camp and that a 
copy of the Koran was provided to each new arrival as part of their 
personal package.

Life at Guantanamo Bay
Military personnel purposefully arrange the inmates so that they are in 
cells located where others do not speak their language. The nearly 600 
inmates are representative of over thirty nations.

According to Brigadier General Rick Baccaus of Task Force 160—the man 
dubbed the warden of Camp Delta—inmates spend the entire day in their 
cells including mealtime. Meals are taken in the cells on trays. Only 
twice a week are they allowed out individually for a shower and outside 
exercise.

Red Cross monitors have been on the island since the opening weeks, 
serving as both human rights monitor and mail carriers. The Red Cross 
population has dropped from six to only two. Detainees are given a 
choice of the Red Cross or Camp Delta as a mail handler.

The military is priding itself on what it calls the Camp Delta mail 
system whereby inmates can write mail and receive up to six packages 
per month.  Of course writing is strictly monitored and many inmates 
have opted to not pen a letter home—after each “writing session” 
inmates are relieved of both their letter (for inspection) as well as 
the pen (possible weapon).

Rapidly increasing in population, the camp housed less than 300 in 
April, at which point it announced additional cells were to be built by 
the end of May. By August, the Camp housed 600 detainees, with an 
announcement from General James Hill that an additional 200 cells would 
be built by October. Hill stated that as the War on Terrorism grows, so 
too will the Camp—speculation of a total capacity of 2,000 has been 
cited by military sources.

A Permanent Fixture Void of Conclusive Answers
Although the Camp is visible in many late night TV jokes and is the 
occasional focus of a cable news report, it is losing visibility both 
in the media and in the public’s collective memory.

However, as the “Top Ten Benefits of Being Held at Camp Delta” jokes 
are fading so too is the question of the validity of holding these 
individuals without trial, without (shown) evidence, without 
explanation of their daily lives and conditions and, perhaps most 
importantly, without a set release date.

The population grows each month at Guantanamo Bay and begins to feel 
like a permanent penal colony paying tribute to 9/11.

    All content Copyleft © 2002 by The Alarm! Newspaper. Except where 
noted otherwise, this material may be copied and distributed freely in 
whole or in part by anyone except where used for commercial purposes or 
by government agencies.

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