Posted on 07/02/2004 5:41:43 AM PDT by Tribune7
Monday May31-Remind me to never travel on Memorial Day again. Atlanta's airport was mobbed. I had a two-hour flight delay but even worse the other two members of our traveling party, program director Grace Blazer and Colonel Scott Rutter, never get to our hotel until 4 a.m. minus one of our bags. Thank God, they carried the 40-pound bag of radio equipment on board because we would not be broadcasting from Gitmo.
Tuesday June 1- 6:15 a.m. We're in a cab headed for the Jacksonville Naval Base and the final leg to Guantanamo Bay. We are anxious to get to the island, tour, set up a phone account, and set up the broadcast equipment. This is anxiety time because no one has ever broadcast live from Gitmo, and a satellite and other technicalities are involved.
Well, things did not go very smoothly. We never hit the side of the island where we would be headquartered until 5 p. m. This led to a tough struggle to get the show on air. We made it with one minute to spare.
The island has two sides and the mode of transportation is a slow ferry. My first impression is that is Wildwood circa 1950 with a prison. It is very brown and mountainous, not green and lush. I can see why Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men felt that he was on a razor's edge. You do feel surrounded and it's hard to travel very far without seeing some kind of fortification.
The first broadcast was edge-of-the -seat stuff. The chief interrogator Commander Z (we couldn't use his last name for security reasons) laid out the idea that relationship building and the use of positive rewards such as recreational activities, fruit baskets and barbecues with an ocean view were the means to get information. Many callers thought this approach was too humane. I watched and talked with a former Chicago detective for hours and I found him to be a very commanding and controlling presence.
We also talked with Major John Smith who is the architect of the upcoming tribunals that will be military courts used to try the detainees. This also was stuff that I hadn't heard anywhere else. We talked a lot about how these prisoners were classified under international law and how we are crafting an entire system of justice to put them on trial. The critical fact is that we are treating this as a terrorist/warfare issue rather than a law enforcement issue. That means that we captured these people under battlefield conditions and we didn't knock on their cave with a search warrant.
Our day ended with a trip to a fast food place for jerk chicken. Jamacians run the place and many of the other civilian facilities. They also run the Tiki Bar that we also visited. Having some drinks with our guides and some of the people we interviewed each night really gave insight into what's happening in the prisons. One officer told me pointblank that he couldn't be part of anything that wasn't honorable.
Wednesday June 2- We'e up at 6 a.m. and off to breakfast at Leeward Galley. The food and choices of food were great. Next, we were allowed to fly around Gitmo Bay on a speedboat that is the first line of defense against attack. The young female captain was happy to talk about her mission to me.
Finally, it was time for the tour of Camp Delta. I remember when the prisoners were first taken to Gitmo and housed at an outdoor facility called Camp X-Ray. This facility is still standing but is no longer used. The Camps now are modern indoor facilities with open-air 10-by-20-foot cells.
At Camp Delta, I sat with the chief interrogator in an interrogation room and a control room.
(Excerpt) Read more at zwire.com ...
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