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Skirmish With Guards, Two Suicide Attempts Test Guantanamo Procedures
American Forces Press Service ^ | Kathleen T. Rhem

Posted on 05/19/2006 7:28:05 PM PDT by SandRat

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2006 – A bogus suicide attempt yesterday lured guards into a 10-man detainee bay where an attack awaited them, the admiral in charge of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told reporters today. Two other detainees had attempted suicide earlier in the day.

Click photo for screen-resolution image

One barrack room in Camp 4, the medium-security facility within Camp Delta at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In Camp 4, highly compliant detainees live in a communal setting and have extensive access to recreation. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  

(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

The large skirmish in Camp 4, the only medium-security facility at Guantanamo Bay, began around 6:30 p.m. when guards were searching all cells in response to earlier incidents in other camps.

Compliant detainees in Camp 4 live in communal bays and have more privileges and more recreation time than those in other camps at Guantanamo. They are "assigned to the camp when they have demonstrated continued compliance with camp rules," Navy Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said via telephone from Guantanamo Bay.

However, he added, officials "consider this to be the most dangerous camp, because detainees have the opportunity to plan and act out in groups."

A quick-reaction force of 10 guards responded when a detainee was seen hanging sheets from the ceiling and making as if to hang himself. Harris explained that guards are taught to respond to save the detainee's life but also to consider the possibility that such a gesture is intended to lure guards into a cell.

"Because of the dangerous nature of the men in our custody, we train for the possibility that a suicide attempt may be used by the detainees to create an opportunity to conduct an assault, take a hostage, or kill the guards," he said. "In fact, that was exactly what was going on last night."

When guards entered the bay to prevent the detainee from hanging himself, the 10 detainees in that bay attacked them. Harris said the detainees had "slickened the floor in their block with feces, urine and soapy water in an attempt to trip the guards." They then attacked the guards with broken light fixtures, fan blades and "bits of metal."

Harris and Army Col. Mike Bumgarner, commander of the Joint Detention Group, explained that the guards used a "continuum of force" to quell the disturbance. Continuum of force is a law-enforcement term used to explain that guards or officers start with the lowest level of force and escalate until they reach the appropriate level of force for the situation at hand.

In this case, guards started with verbal commands to cease the actions, then quickly moved to using pepper spray. Within a matter of minutes they progressed to physical force and finally to using nonlethal weapons, which allowed the guards to end the skirmish within five minutes of the guards entering the bay.

Officials did not call for the use of nonlethal crowd-control measures until two guards were on the ground after detainees jumped on them from the beds and leaders determined their lives could be at risk, Bumgarner said.

Guards fired five .12-guage shotgun rounds with rubber pellets and one "sponge-type grenade" from an M-203 grenade launcher.

The detainees who started the disturbance were then moved to a maximum-security facility after being examined by medical personnel, Harris said.

While authorities worked to end the fighting in the first bay, detainees in two other bays began acting out by damaging their accommodations, destroying fans, light fixtures and security cameras. Guards used pepper spray in these bays as well. Guards also had to enter one bay to evacuate a detainee who complained of severe chest pains.

Bumgarner said officials have estimated the property damage at $110,000, most of that cost from the security cameras in the bays.

Officials later determined the initial act was not a legitimate suicide attempt but a ruse to get guards into the bay. In all, six detainees were treated for minor injuries, and no servicemembers were injured beyond scrapes and bruises, Bumgarner said.

Guards first responded to a medical emergency in Camp 1, a maximum-security facility within Camp Delta, early yesterday when a detainee was discovered unconscious after missing morning prayer, Harris said.

Later, around noon, a second detainee complained of dizziness and nausea after taking five pills.

"Not knowing if this was another suicide attempt, we locked down the camps and began a total search of each cell, realizing that this process would take several hours," Harris said.

In the end, officials determined that this second detainee had not attempted suicide but was having a reaction to medication prescribed to him for latent tuberculosis. That individual is fine now, Harris said.

Shortly thereafter, guards found a stash of drugs hidden in a detainee's toilet. Minutes after this, guards found another detainee frothing at the mouth when they arrived to search his cell. Harris said this was another suicide attempt.

Both individuals are being treated at the Guantanamo naval hospital, where they are in stable condition but were still unconscious this afternoon, Harris said. Officials determined the men had ingested "large quantities of the benzodiazepine family of drugs." This type of drug is commonly used to treat anxiety or insomnia.

Harris said neither of the men was prescribed the medication they took. Officials theorize that several detainees surreptitiously hoarded their prescribed medication for an unknown period of time to pass to these "two jihadists who ... either they wanted to be the suicides or they were told to be the suicides."

Medical personnel at Guantanamo Bay dispense about 1,000 pills a day to 200 to 300 detainees, Harris said. "That's a very difficult thing to track," he said. "The guard force and the medical staff do their best to ensure that the detainees are not squirreling away meds, but when you're dispensing that quantity of meds to that quantity of detainees, some get by us."

Two other detainees also complained of nausea and dizziness, and one of them stated that he had tried to kill himself but didn't have enough drugs. Medical officials believe these two are "attention-seeking sympathizers," but were not seriously trying to kill themselves.

Since detainees were first brought to Guantanamo Bay in January 2002, no detainee has died at the facility. Including yesterday's attempts, there have been 41 suicide attempts from a total of 25 detainees, Harris said. About 750 detainees have been through the base, and about 460 currently are held there.

In his comments to the press today, Harris said the guards performed "magnificently yesterday, showing remarkable restraint in the face of considerable danger."

"They were, in fact, heroic," he added. "The young men and women here are doing a magnificent job, and I'm proud of each of them."

He also praised the medical staff involved and credited them with saving the lives of the two detainees who attempted suicide.

Harris said officials believe the detainees were seeking attention by causing the disturbance in Camp 4. "This is a way to bring attention to their position and the fact that they are continuing to wage war against America and our allies, and they are doing what they can to further their ideals."

Defense officials have continually stressed that detainees are not held at Guantanamo Bay to punish or attempt to reform them, but to keep them off the battlefield in the war on terrorism.

"This illustrates to me the true nature of the men we have detained here," Harris said today. "They are dangerous men and committed jihadists who will do whatever it takes to kill an American here, even killing themselves to get to that point."

Biography:

Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., USN


Related Sites:

Joint Task Force Guantanamo

Web Special Report: Guantanamo Bay


Click photo for screen-resolution image

A basketball court stands in the center of Camp 4, the medium-security camp within Camp Delta at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This camp also has a volleyball court and large recreation areas for the detainees. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  


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Detainees walk around an exercise yard in Camp 4, the medium-security facility within Camp Delta at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In Camp 4, highly compliant detainees live in a communal setting and have extensive access to recreation. Photo by Sgt. Sara Wood, USA  


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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Cuba; Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: attempts; gimo; guantanamo; guards; procedures; skirmish; suicide; test

1 posted on 05/19/2006 7:28:07 PM PDT by SandRat
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To: 91B; HiJinx; Spiff; MJY1288; xzins; Calpernia; clintonh8r; TEXOKIE; windchime; Grampa Dave; ...

Club GITMO PING!!


2 posted on 05/19/2006 7:28:30 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

NY Slimes will likely run the story like this:

American guards beat helpless prisoners at Gitmo. UN calls for closing the prison.

Now for the other shoe to drop, the military is extremely politically correct at Gitmo, usually charging the guards with crimes no matter what the circumstances. Lets see how this plays out.


3 posted on 05/19/2006 7:31:58 PM PDT by armydawg1 (" America must win this war..." PVT Martin Treptow, KIA, WW1)
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To: armydawg1

The first part has already happened.


4 posted on 05/19/2006 7:34:13 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat
reality is that this stuff happens at Maximum and Medium security prisons in the U.S. every day.
5 posted on 05/19/2006 8:15:22 PM PDT by Dr Snide (vis pacem, para bellum - Prepare for war if you want peace)
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To: SandRat
Heh, apparently they liked their maximum security cells better.
6 posted on 05/19/2006 8:20:06 PM PDT by KurtZ (The walrus was Paul)
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To: Dr Snide

Yep but the America haters in the L/MSM and the UN aren't living in reality.


7 posted on 05/19/2006 8:20:30 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat
I got your 'continuum of force' right here:

L

8 posted on 05/19/2006 8:22:51 PM PDT by Lurker (Real conservatives oppose the Presidents immigration proposal. Help make sure it dies in the House.)
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To: SandRat

This seems like it could be a great opportunity to address two problems at once. There has recently been a number of alligator attacks in the South East. Perhaps we should capture and send these terrorist alligators down to gitmo and house them with some of the problematic prisoners already in the population there. LOL


9 posted on 05/19/2006 10:34:25 PM PDT by SirFishalot
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To: SandRat
Ma Deuce would have made short work of these terrorist criminals...permanently.
10 posted on 05/20/2006 12:55:43 AM PDT by AlaskaErik (Everyone should have a subject they are ignorant about. I choose professional corporate sports.)
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To: SandRat

Lucky things like this never happen in Pa. prisons < /sarcasm>


11 posted on 05/20/2006 4:05:08 AM PDT by Tribune7
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To: SandRat
Meanwhile,......this 10 Guantanamo inmates in fierce fight with guards is what the AP is putting in the street.
12 posted on 05/20/2006 6:47:16 AM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: KurtZ
Heh, apparently they liked their maximum security cells better.

And I'm sure they, and the others formerly in the medium security facility will appreciate being returned to those cells. Let the guards play basketball and volleyball on those courts.

13 posted on 05/20/2006 2:55:01 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: SirFishalot
This seems like it could be a great opportunity to address two problems at once. There has recently been a number of alligator attacks in the South East. Perhaps we should capture and send these terrorist alligators down to gitmo and house them with some of the problematic prisoners already in the population there. LOL

Or take the detainees to open water in Florida for "swimming lessons".

Gator's gotta eat too.

14 posted on 05/20/2006 2:59:40 PM PDT by El Gato
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To: SandRat

15 posted on 05/20/2006 3:02:01 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (We want our day: A day without hearing SPANISH ...)
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