Thirteen to fifteen?
Oh, we start much earlier.
Posted on 06/21/2003 4:23:42 PM PDT by Pokey78
THERE is a gap in the tight green mesh fence where the boys can peer longingly at the sea. High chicken wire prevents them from leaving their small, isolated compound, which is guarded night and day. There is no privacy, even in sleep, and no knowing when they may be able to reclaim their freedom. This is Camp Iguana on Guantanamo Bay, where at least three children from Afghanistan between the ages of 13 and 15 are held.
Their guards call them juvenile enemy combatants. They were captured on the battlefield and brought to the US naval base on the tip of Cuba at the beginning of the year. Sixteen-year-old detainees are kept in the adult camp.
Neither the names of the children nor the causes of their imprisonment are known to the outside world. No charges have been brought; nor are they likely ever to face a military tribunal. Even their nationality is meant to be a secret.
Officially, the boy prisoners number fewer than six; no precise figure is given. But I saw two neat little beds in a heart-breaking parody of a real home at the centre of their camp. Behind the apartment wall, I was told, was a mirror image of the same tiny home, so there could be four detainees.
The boys had been ushered to the other side, out of sight. They were perhaps having maths lessons, playing draughts or watching Disney cartoons. The guards keep them busy; it helps with discipline.
Their incarceration without access to family or lawyers raises uncomfortable questions about their human rights. They have been interrogated and are considered a military threat.
The presence of such adolescents at Guantanamo Bay was revealed in an unguarded moment last month by camp commanders. Stung by the public outcry, the US military is beginning to lift the veil of secrecy. It is proud of the boys’ regime and invited me to judge conditions for myself.
First Lieutenant David Wodushek, 36, is in charge of the guards and living arrangements. “We don’t want to traumatise additionally juveniles who have been pressed into military action in their home countries,” he said. “What you see here makes me sleep very well at night.”
A semblance of normal life has been created behind the perimeter fence, but the children’s confinement is absolute. The mesh around the compound prevents them from looking towards the beach where army families gather at the weekend for barbecues.
Unlike adult detainees, who are deprived of a view, they can see waves crash against the cliff through the 30ft by 7ft gap that is protected by the chicken wire. Occasionally a cruise ship passes on the horizon. “It’s a soothing and tranquil environment for them,” said Wodushek.
The living quarters — a single-storey block in the middle of a patch of grass — are a world away from the barren 6ft by 8ft wire cages that house the maximum-security Al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees. Each air-conditioned apartment has a bedroom with twin beds, a small living room with two armchairs, sofa and television, and a bathroom and kitchenette. But it is emphatically not a home.
The oven is just for show — “It’s for the aesthetics,” said Wodushek — and the refrigerator is stocked with fruits and desserts that the boys are not allowed to touch. There is a reward system: “The guards will give it to them when they need it,” I was told. A line of black tape stuck to the floor separates the kitchen area from the living room and the boys know better than to cross it without permission. The bulk of the food is the same as the adults’ and arrives by truck.
Before breakfast they tidy their rooms and shower. But the bathroom door never closes. A short, blue curtain gives scant privacy from the guards.
Two to three hours a day are set aside for lessons. The boys’ literacy is not advanced but they are being tutored in their own language. The Muslim army chaplain helps with religious instruction. “We are not trying to Americanise anyone,” said Wodushek.
In the afternoon they do puzzles and watch videos. As the sun becomes less fierce, they play football. They wear the same bright orange T-shirts and shorts as the adult detainees.
Lights are out at 9pm but only in the bedrooms. The living room is constantly lit and a mirror above the left bed gives guards an uninterrupted view. Outside, the compound is illuminated at all times.
Every week the chaplain, a social worker and a psychologist meet to discuss the children’s progress. Wodushek declined to say whether any of the boys were on antidepressants, but he admitted that they got stressed and homesick.
“They haven’t asked why they are here but they have wondered when they are going home,” he said. “I have not seen them cry but certainly they have had some low points.”
The military social worker is the only female they see. “There is very limited privacy here,” said Wodushek. “Out of respect for their cultural background, we don’t want to put a female in here who might make them feel uncomfortable.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross visits from time to time and the boys receive occasional mail. The pressure group Human Rights Watch has expressed concern at their captivity. “Children are particularly vulnerable and they have the right to have their parents or their attorneys present when they are being interrogated, particularly by a foreign government,” it said.
Wodushek was at Guantanamo Bay when the youngsters arrived. “They were kept separate from the very beginning,” he said. Camp Iguana was erected in March.
According to Major-General Geoffrey Miller, the commander of the US taskforce at Guantanamo, the boys are as potentially dangerous and valuable as the adult detainees. “All enemy combatants go through a very thorough screening process. They must have intelligence value and be a military threat,” said Miller.
He declined to comment on whether the boys had killed or wounded any US soldiers. He sees them three or four times a week and calls them by their surnames. Interrogations are conducted by intelligence officers but not as aggressively as those of adults.
How long the youngsters remain at Camp Iguana is for politicians rather than the military to decide. The guards feel they are doing a humane job in brutal circumstances.
“I respect the outcry but I just hope there’s as much condemnation of the countries that use child soldiers,” said Wodushek. “That’s the real tragedy.”
The enemy is turning their kids into mindless psycho terrorists. That is not our problem. We have to fight the enemy wherever they slither. If they choose to send their kids into the buzzsaw, that is not our problem and I deeply resent the media's attempt to drum up sympathy for terrorists.
Why the hell not?! Have we allowed world opinion to make us hestitant to promote our values? Have we become so caught up in "respecting other peoples views and religions" that we hesitate to influence or persuade our enemies to behave in a civil manner?
These young soldiers have most likely been thoroughly indoctrinated with the extremes of the Taliban religious codes, which is basically: women are worthless except for childbirth, and can be raped, murdered or beaten on the whims of religious men; Anyone who does not adhere to their extremist views of Islam is to be killed.
And this man makes an effort not to "Americanise" them? Give me a break!
These are unfounded assumptions. These young soldiers could well be the sons of high-ranking Taliban or Al Quida officers. If they are they could have been privy to a great deal of useful intelligence.
If the CIA or Army intelligence think it prudent to expend the resources to detain them (and it sounds like they are going to a great deal of expense) I believe they must have a great deal of intelligence value.
Or perhaps the critics could provide foster care for these rosey-cheeked "wee ones." That would, at the very least, have an educating effect.
...although perhaps not quite the education they had in mind...
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