Posted on 01/17/2002 1:06:14 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Several al Qaeda and Taliban suspects penned up here at Camp X-Ray have threatened in both English and Arabic ``to kill an American before they leave Guantanamo Bay,'' the prison camp commander said Wednesday.
``These are not nice people,'' Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert said ahead of the latest arrival of 30 prisoners in florescent orange jumpsuits, manacled and masked in strict security procedures.
``Several have publicly stated here that they intend to kill an American before they leave Guantanamo Bay,'' Lehnert said. ``We will not give them that satisfaction.''
The new prisoners, who arrived aboard a C-141 transport, were led one-by-one and made to sit on the floor of two awaiting yellow school buses for transfer to Camp X-Ray -- a crude, open-air prison of six-by-eight-foot cells, which could eventually expand to hold 600 prisoners.
Responding to press inquiries, Marine Maj. Steve Cox said guards told the prisoners which way was East, so they could pray in the traditional manner -- in the direction of the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
But Cox said, ``I don't know,'' when asked if the al Qaeda and Taliban detainees understood where they were on the world's map -- 8,000 miles away from Afghanistan -- or had even been told they were now in Cuba.
Like the previous two groups, Wednesday's arrivals were shorn of their hair and beards -- and would be kept shaved throughout their incarceration to prevent lice and other health problems.
Officials said earlier that the chain-link fence compound would not exceed 220 detainees before a new walled complex is built.
Lehnert said Wednesday, for the first time, that Navy Seabees brought in to build a walled prison will not have it ready for at least three months, rather than the 45- to 60-day time frame commanders estimated last week.
So military construction workers will expand the network of cages to accommodate 320 prisoners by Jan. 25, and then add another 300 or so outdoor cells to hold more than 600 detainees until the Seabees build the walled prison of prefabricated materials at a site called Radio Range.
Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello, the prison project spokesman, said the plan was still to build a more permanent prison that could hold up to 2,000.
Meantime, captives and their Army military police guards are exposed to the Caribbean elements -- hot winds by day, mosquitoes and sometimes rain at night. The prisoners sleep on thin, Marine-issue mats, Army green colored pads that resemble aerobic mats and cost U.S. taxpayers $6.80.
Temperatures rose toward 90 by midday Wednesday, offset by whipping winds.
Officers also displayed sample prison rations to illustrate that the captives' daily nourishment requirements were being met a day ahead of the expected arrival of an inspection team from the Swiss-based International Red Cross and Red Crescent.
Breakfast is bread, a bagel and cream cheese, fruit and water. Lunch is hot, a vacuum-packed Halal meal in keeping with Muslim sensitivities that forbid eating pork.
The lunch food package displayed for reporters Wednesday included ``New York Style Baked Bagel Chips,'' 1 1/2 ounce green bags that feature a picture of New York's Empire State Building, and a circle with a ``U'' inside it, signifying they are kosher per rabbinic supervision.
And for dinner on this U.S.-controlled corner of Cuba, captives get beans, rice, bread and more fruit.
Prisoners are issued plastic spoons with their meals and must return them afterward, said Navy spokesman Bob Nelson, a civilian attached to the prison operation.
Other gear being provided include a toothbrush with the handle snipped off to prevent its use as a weapon; a canteen with water, shampoo, toothpaste, soap, a sheet and blanket and flip-flops for the feet. Officers also displayed two ordinary plastic buckets -- one for washing up, and the other in case there is no time to take an inmate to a latrine.
Prisoners are also provided two bath towels -- one for personal hygiene, the other for a prayer mat, which the general said they were using.
Military interrogations have not yet begun.
The spoken threats notwithstanding, the general characterized the detainees as ``a pretty mild lot right now.'' Military officials did not say how many prisoners threatened to kill Americans, or the circumstances of the threat. But the general said the remarks, uttered both in English and Arabic, were ``nothing that the MPs inside the compound can't control.''
Overheard at breakfast:"You know, Mohammed, with a piece of lox and an onion, it wouldn't be bad."
These morons just don't get it, do they? Who says they're going to leave? Except in a box?
Let's see, they are being held outdoors and, last I heard, the sun rises in the East. They must have missed that lecture.
Make em shark bait so they won't kill Americans in Guantanamo Bay or anywhere else.
That's one the prisoners probably could have figured out themselves.
I expect the guards gave that tidbit to the press, who didn't know how it was done.
They must have spent too many years blind as bats due to all that hanging around in dark gloomy caves to know when the sun comes up. No wonder they have no idea which way Mecca is facing.
Perhaps we should house Johnny Walker over there. Would he qualify as an American? Could we at least send Jesse or Sharpton to break bread (bagels?) with their oppressed brothers?
I don't see why not. Castro can always find room for one more.
I wouldn't turn my back on these murdering thugs. I hope we treat them will due "respect."
Choose
A $hithole , wet, damp, cold, black, cave 5,000 metres up a mountain, living on rat $hit, being bombed by the biggest bombs the world has known or living in permanent sunshine in the Caribbean, fed watered with full sanitary facilities?
Let's find some caves in Nebraska and a few bags of rice.
Yeah, but that Kosher Lunch has got to really burn their butts!
Bwahahahahaha!
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