Another interesting NY Times article
.S. NAVAL AIR STATION, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, March 15 — An elaborate social
system is evolving here between American military guards and their captives
from the Afghan war.
The system, controlled by the guards and tested repeatedly by the inmates, is
largely based on privileges — given mainly so they can be taken away as a way
to maintain discipline and encourage cooperation.
The little extras here at this sweltering, dusty 2.5-acre barbed-wire camp
include novels, like love stories and Arab legends, with "1001 Arabian
Nights" on order. The inmates regularly drink sweet tea, although though it
is warm, not hot, in case they try to throw it on a guard. Curried chicken
has been added to the dinner menu.
This week, prisoners who were having trouble reading were given glasses. The
detainees are allowed to talk with each other, and officials have grouped
them by language. They can call out to reporters to proclaim their innocence
without being punished. They apparently receive first-class medical care — a
neurologist and a thoracic surgeon were recently flown in.
Some prisoners were seen this week riding in golf carts. Officials said they
started using the motorized carts to transport the prisoners to the
interrogation huts, several hundred feet away, because it was quicker and
because the prisoners' leg shackles were rubbing their ankles raw when they
had to walk there.
Brig. Gen. Michael R. Lehnert, the marine who commands the task force
overseeing the prison camp, said the privileges were useful tools in
maintaining discipline because what was given could be taken away.
"You can't do much with a detainee if they have nothing," he said.
But since the first prisoners arrived on Jan. 11, almost none of the
privileges has been revoked. General Lehnert said he was reluctant to revoke
any, even though the prisoners have been "acting out," because he did not
want to encourage them.
"Quite often, what the detainees want is a reaction," he said. "They would
like to be able to demonstrate, `Look at what's happening to me! I'm being
punished.' "
There are 300 prisoners, from at least 32 countries, being held in the camp's
8 foot by 8 foot chain-link cages. Some are quite young, in their early
teens, but most are in their 20's and 30's. There is at least one father and
son. The prisoners have close- shaved heads, but many are growing beards.
Some have started doing push-ups and sit-ups. They are let out into a small
pen for 15 minutes twice a week for exercise, and many pray five times a day.
Still, military officials say the prisoners are enormously frustrated and
angry because their future is so uncertain. Officials here say the prisoners'
fates are up to Washington. But the Bush administration has given no
indication of what it intends to do with them after they are interrogated,
has set no timetable for the questioning, and has not lodged any charges
against them.
General Lehnert said most of the prisoners were either "high-ranking Taliban"
or suspected Al Qaeda terrorists, but the deputy camp commander, Lt. Col.
Bill Cline, said some were "victims of circumstance" and probably innocent.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has said that any number of things
could happen to the prisoners, including their being held indefinitely.
In any case, the military is preparing here for the long term. Bulldozers are
clearing ground on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean, and construction is to
begin this weekend on a permanent $16 million camp there that can hold up to
2,000 inmates.
The idea of being moved to a permanent camp has left many prisoners anxious,
officials say, and their "acting out" has taken many forms. They have yelled
to their guards that they are going to kill them. They have thrown gravel at
them.
Many of the prisoners have been on a hunger strike intermittently since Feb.
27, although the number refusing food and drink has steadily dwindled.
"We've been on a hunger strike for 14 days, and nobody cares!" one prisoner
yelled in English at a reporter who was being given a tour around the
perimeter. "We need the world to know about us. We are innocent here in this
place. We've got no legal rights. Nothing. So can somebody know about us? Can
you tell the world about us?"
General Lehnert said that if such yelling became disruptive to the camp, he
would "put a stop to it," but that it had not yet reached that point. He
added that he considered the prisoners "media savvy and shrewd."
In any case, he told reporters, if the yelling turned into a problem,
reporters, who are kept on a very short leash here by the military, would be
given even less access. "Most likely, to tell you the truth, we may end up
moving you back so that you can no longer provide the catalyst for them to do
those things," he said.
To help ease the tension, General Lehnert has taken to addressing the
prisoners once a week over a loudspeaker at the camp, and did so today for
the third time. He told them that their move to the more permanent cells
"does not mean that you will remain here forever if you have done nothing
wrong," leaving unsaid what would happen to them if they had done something
wrong.
General Lehnert said repeatedly that he did not have control over their
future. "Nothing you or I can do will either delay or speed the actions of
those who will determine your future," he told them. "I cannot honestly tell
you what will happen to you or how long you will be here." He offered them
little hope, except to say their lives would "continue to improve" if they
followed the rules.
Colonel Cline said he did not perceive the situation as explosive, but he
knows the prisoners are watching their captors and sizing them up.
"I don't sense a powder keg, but they're watching us 24/7," he said. "They're
watching what we do, they're watching what time we do it, they're watching
how we do it. They're scheming." One of the advantages of giving them books
to read, he said, is that it takes their eyes off the guards, at least for a
while.
"There's not much that they want for here," he added, "except their freedom."
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